Book on Autism

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turkleton

turkleton

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Hey guys, I wonder if any of the neurologists or pediatric neurologists read the book 'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time'. I thought it was excellent and very clever approach in writing a book. It also gave some insight as to how the mind of an autistic child works- however, I was wondering, based on your experience is this portrayal accruate? It seemed fairly in line with the few pages on autism I read during second year, but I really have no clinical exposure to that patient population.
 
hey turk,

my brother has autism (is 24 y/o, non-verbal so pretty severe). i thought the book was a fairly accurate depiction of kiddo with autism, though the range of clinical manifestations is great in this disorder. if you're interested in a comparison/other source, temple grandin does a nice job conveying how she thinks about things (including social interactions) and approaches life. basically, very concrete and oblivious to social subtlties (idea of lacking theory of mind or ability to perceive another's frame of reference). keep reading!
 
Thanks Colinator! I'm definitely going to give that book a look. The most fascinating thing was exactly what you described- the complete absence of social relations and inability to appreciate the subtleties of human interaction. There was something so sad and mystifying about it. Thanks again.
 
My son is autistic. I loved the curious incident of the dog in the night!!! Though my son is much more severe than the child portrayed in the book, I can definately see the thought processes being similar. We still make jokes about the 4 red car days, etc. The boy portrayed in the book is more of an Asperger's syndrome type kid. Tony Attwood (I might have spelled that wrong) writes on Asperger's syndrome and just put out a new book. I also like the Temple Grandin stuff - the newest one seemed to be more animal chute descriptions than autism talk, so I liked Thinking in Pictures better.
It is sad that with the high rates of autism spectrum disorders we only get maybe part of 1 lecture on it through med school. I set up a 4th year rotation with my son's developmental pediatrician and learned SO much more. It was really one of the more helpful (in the broad life picture) class during 4th year.
 
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