too
AM Rest Dxumentary this Sunday night
C)The fim is hased on the 014 book of the same title by the Pulitzer Pire winning journalist and author
Ron Suskind. It tells the remarkable story of how the author and his wife, Coelia, were able to
reach their silent and withdrawn autistic son, Owen, by actively embracing and nurturing in his
passionate interest in animated Disney films
relatin
Owen find his voice and place in the world
E) Why did it work? Ron Suskind believes it is because kids with autism "have the full complement of
emotions and they want to share them and grow in all the ways the rest of us grow, as he explained
in an interview."What we began to realize is that just by loving what he loved, we were signaling to
him a whole basket of things that parents are traditionally able to signal to their children. And the
more we did that, the more he opened up. "Another crucial element, Suskind says, is sharing joy
"Owen was noticing our desire 4 to fix"him, but you cant spend your life trying to fix
someone. It's not an appropriate relationship between a parent and a child. We realized we were not
finding joy together, and that's a big part of this equation
Fsasktind's hook and the car nominated film quickly caught the attention of the autism community, and
hae triggered a growing reappraisal of restricted interests, which the Suskinds call"affinities. "The result
has ben new technlogy and, soon, a spurt of new research. Suskind fimly believes any affinity even
