#3 continued "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"

Mark Haddon

I had to make this two parts because it would become a short novel if I didn't and who wants to read a blog that long right?? Layla's life has been anything but easy. We found out about her disorder when she was four months old. We strapped on our superhero outfits and told ourselves we would make the best of this and love her unconditionally. We told ourselves that she was going to blow the doctor's diagnosis out of the water. Layla started conventional therapy immediately and we continued to look at alternative therapies. She was already doing more than many of the kids with her disorder could do. She was rolling over, clapping, and saying "Ma's" and "Da's", and eating by mouth. This encouraged us to continue pressing forward with positive hopes. At around 2 years old we saw a rapid decline in her skills as we were constantly changing her seizure medications because she was having many breakthrough seizures. Layla had multiple hospital stays for surgeries and tests. We fought with her for a year to keep her healthy since she decided that she didn't want to eat anymore and was tired of her medications. We knew she was physically able to eat but her aversion to medication made her hesitant to open her mouth. Occasionally she would finally concede and open her mouth and try her food. To get her to this point of eating and taking her medicine meant trudging though kicking and screaming and tears on both our parts. This was all to keep her healthy. It got to me when I was holding up a spoon to her face getting ready to feed her and she looked at me with sadness in her eyes like I am about to torture her again. As a parent the last thing we want is for our actions to cause our children distress. I never dreamed when I had a child that I would be at this point where my kids looked at me in that way. I won't even describe the many sleepless nights that we went through and continue to go through with Layla. A child that wants to sleep so bad but because of reflux or seizures or whatever else and you can't do anything to help them. This is FRUSTRATING!!

So, when I opened up "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon I only

Max "Parenthood"

knew it was about a child on the autism spectrum. My only familiarity with the disorder was from watching "Parenthood" which has a character named Max who is a teenager with Asperger's syndrome and watching a TV show called "This is Autism". However, I trust Mark Haddon to paint a clear picture of a child with autism in his story due to his work in the past with people with autism. The book also received praise from medical professionals stating, "This magnificent essay in communication is compulsory reading for anyone with the slightest interest in autistic spectrum disorders," -Dr. Alex McClimens, a senior research fellow in the Centre for Health and Social Care Research, United Kingdom.

The story begins with a teenager named Christopher who has an autism spectrum disorder who encounters a dog that died from a yard fork in his neighbor's backyard.  He decides to investigate what happened to the dog as well as journal his findings to make into a book and eventually discovers much greater mysteries than how the dog died. Through his questioning of those in his neighborhood about the events surrounding the dogs death you can see clearly the social disability he possesses. One of the interesting parts of the story is seeing everything through the eyes of a teenager with autism. He doesn't seem to comprehend his social awkwardness and how it affects those around him. It is sad that our patience with people like Christopher is often very thin.

Haddon describes in detail the FRUSTRATION others around Christopher experience because of Christopher's handicap and how it affects them. The single father of Christopher who's patience is at it's breaking point mirrored how I have felt and feel about our daughter which is why this book really hit close to home. Sometimes the social confrontations were quite humorous knowing Christopher's disability beforehand. It really is a good book to read. Besides all the serious stuff in the book Haddon reveals a more quirky lighter side of Christopher which is funny, entertaining,
 and helps the reader to enjoy who Christopher is without the label of his disability. He likes prime numbers to the point that all his chapters are labeled only prime numbers. Imagine getting ready to read and you open it to the first chapter and it has "Chapter 2" there. I thought someone ripped the 1st chapter out. As I continued reading I would try to guess what the next chapter number will be. It was upsetting to see how often I was wrong, I guess I don't remember prime numbers from school. The story about a kid battling with autism, a splash of an interesting, "Sherlock Holmes" type mystery, and a dash of odd humor, I'm not surprised that "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" has won many awards in literature.

A must read!