Tuesday Blog: Week Five

This week I have begun reading the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. This book follows a boy named Christopher, who discovers the dead body of the neighbor's dog. Mrs. Shears, the dog's owner, calls the police, and Christopher comes under suspicion. When a policeman touches him, he hits the policeman and is arrested, then released with a police caution. After being released he becomes obsessed with the crime and determined to figure out who killed the dog, going against his father's wishes for him to leave the situation alone. Christopher decides to write a book about everything that is going on. His dad later found the book and hid it from him. Christopher while searching for the book found letters from his mother which were dated after she died. He then learns that his mother is not dead, she had an affair with Mr. Shears and his dad kicked her out. 

Quote:
"If I get really interested in something, like practicing math, or reading a book about the Apollo missions or great white sharks, I don't notice anything else... this is why I am very good at playing chess because I detach my mind at will and concentrate on the board." (Haddon 73)

source: Thenationalautisticsociety.org

Christopher an autistic boy has a different way of functioning. This quote highlights one of the differences between his way of thinking and a neurotypical persons' way of thinking. Christopher is explaining how when he enjoys something, he is able to focus in on that one thing as if nothing else mattered. This shows how his area of interests and his different way of thinking allow him to be one step of everyone else in some senses. Earlier in the book, he described a similar thing where he said his brain recalled things differently than an average person's brain would. 

Source:slideshare.net/HatchEarlyLearning

Christopher's skills remind me much of my best friend's brother. Whenever she and I were together when we were younger, her brother always seemed to be busy. He always had something to do. His favorite things were bikes and cars. Whenever he was doing something that had to do with one of his special interest he seemed to be on another planet because of how focused he was. The way Christopher talked about his skills and the way he blocks out everything else when he is focused reminded me so much of him.