Rachael/Curious Incident Reply

Respond to the fellow classmate’s forum response as if you are a
classmate giving you positive/negative opinions/views of their post- Use the
uploaded ‘example’ of a response to guide you- Their instructions for their post from
the professor are in the following parenthesis:

‘Curious Incident“

“From the book The Cuious Incident of the Dog in the Night -Time, How does the main
character Christopher meet the criteria for diagnosis of Autism? What challenges does
he face in the story? How would you describe his strengths and weaknesses? What
suprises you about him? His family?‘

Peer Student’s Post for Critique by Rachael/Forum: l was excited to read The Cuious
Incident of the Dog in the Night Time! I read this book in high school and enjoyed it,
and it was really interesting to look at it again approximately ten years later and see
what new insights I could develop from it-

Though the author Mark Haddon never officially labels Christopher, the main character,
as autistic, his thoughts and behavior definitely suggest that he does experience
some form of autism- Autism is a developmental disability that affects communication
and social interaction, often characterized by repetitive activities, resistance to
environmental change, and unusual responses to sensory experiences (Friend, M-,
2005)- There is evidence within the book that Christopher fits these characteristics- He
has difficulty understanding nonverbal behaviors, such as facial expressions that his
teacher Siobhan crew for him (p-2)- He also has issues understanding or reciprocating
emotions, like at the beginning of the novel when he cannot understand why Mrs-
Shears is yelling after discovering that her dog is dead (p-3)- He is not comfortable
developing peer relationships- His language, portrayed by Haddon in stream-of-
consciousness style, demonstrates his impairments in communication and language-
His interactions with other people also show his discomfort with communication, such
as du’ing the police interview on p-4- Christopher also exhibits symptoms of autism
related to his behavior and interests- For example, he labels all of his chapters with
only prime numbers and will not eat foods that have touched each other (p21)-

Looking at the DSM-lV-TR Criteria for Autism Disorder, there is more than enough
evidence in the book that Christopher could be diagnosed with Autism-

I thought Haddon’s portrayal of Christopher‘s reality was extremely insightful- So often
society stereotypes those on the Autism spectrum as unable to feel or connect or
completely unreasonable and illogical- Haddon showed that Christopher did have
feelings and thoughts that made sense to him, even if they do not make sense to
others. He is intelligent, has excellent memory, and does very well in mathematics at
school. Yet his issues with communication, failu’e to establish relationships, and
difficulty understanding and regulating emotion caused him significant difficulties-
Ultimately, the greatest strength of The Cuious Incident is that it allows readers to
connect and understand someone with autism in a way that we may never be able to
do in real life- He let us see beyond the disability to see the complete person-