Rain+man

Rain Man

media type="youtube" key="KKC3W0awjm0?fs=1" height="385" width="480" align="center"

Autism: the causes and symptoms Autism is a disorder that is related to neural development and ﻿the child cannot function socially properly since they lack the ability to communicate well. To summarize, they live in their own world. In the movie, Raymond is a savant, a person who has a talent in one particular area. The cause of autism is said to be genetics that relate to the structure of the brain. Studies show that the brain wiring of the people who have autism is different from normal people. This difference in how the neurons communicate with each other can result from genetics. The genes could have wired the neuron communication paths differently and controlled the brain growth. Also, it is shown that if one twin has autism, then the other has a 90% chance of having it as well. There is no cause that can fully explain savant syndrome. However, hypothetical cases have been made about connections with the brain and cognitive development. The connection wires may be different again from people with autism and it could lead to genius thinking related to memory and numbers. The symptoms may be being unable to focus on one thing and and repetitive behavior. They cannot communicate easily with other people since they do not understand the tones or facial expressions. They can also have very aggressive behaviors such as biting, head-banging and eye poking that causes self-injury. Also, the repetitive behavior may be rocking or twirling around. As shown in the picture below, behaviors could also include lining up toys in size order repetitively as if it is a ritual. The symptoms of savants are somewhat different in that they show exceptional skill in specific areas. They repeat numbers and are very bright in sequences, showing brilliant skills.



Autism: the cure There is no real cure of autism or savant symptom. However, there can be management treatments to manage the irregular behavior and help to be more social and communicate with others. Social cues can be made to people with autism to communicate and they could learn those cues. Therefore it helps develop more social and language skills. Medication also counts but it is better to be able to help control thee behavior. In the movie, Raymond takes therapies in order to help his social skills and makes his own social cues. He didn't take any medicine in the movie so it is seen as just the behavior management. Apart from Dr. Bruner who helps Raymond, Charlie helps his brother a lot by listening to him and helping him undergo difficult situations.

What I learned from watching this film

From watching this film, I learned that even people with autism could be geniuses and have a special ability. I was very surprised when Raymond started counting the cards in the casino and they won a lot of money. It showed his talent. The reason I was surprised was because I had thought that people with autism were people who couldn't do anything since they couldn't act socially with the society and the world. However, through this movie, I realized that some people with autism are actually really smart and clever in a specific way, such as counting or sequence or memorizing. I remembered a documentary I saw on tv long time ago about a person who would just read calendars and dates and remember them all. It was really amazing and I learned that those kinds of people were called savants.

My reason for choosing the film

I had read a korean book which deals with autism many years before. The author was a mother with a boy who had autism. She explained how her son could not take in words when communicating. He had to think over them and decode what kind of meaning it had to each of them even thought it was just a word. He would also repeat the word over and over as if he had just learned it. The author writes about the life of his son and his symptoms. My own mum had recommended it to me and it had been really interesting to read. Therefore I had wished to see Rain Man which deals with a person with autism visually.

Use of class time 4.5/5 Reason for grade: I kind of didn't complete in the time time but finished most of it in class. Depth of work done 14/15 Reason for grade: I found much for the causes and symptoms but for the treatment, there wasn't much. There was only one main treatment that was shown in Rain Man and it was the most effective one, since I believe that it is best if cured without drugs. What I learned 5/5 Reason for grade: I learned more about autism, but especially about savants. I learned that savant were different from just normal people with autism and it was fun to research more about them. Wikispace's attractiveness 5/5 Reason for grade: I used colors to make the headings big and bright and also for the words, i made it bigger so that it is easier to read. I also added a picture to show a symptom of autism. Total 28.5/30