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Post by murderedmymuse on May 10, 2008 23:25:41 GMT -5
This book and Ann's 'Inside Out' (which also deals with autism) definitely made an impact on me. I have been interested in autism since I first read these books. I have about 15 books on autism and aspergers syndrome. At university I made quite an effort to get into a psychology course that dealt with autism (among other things). So no matter how some people will discount BSC books and YA books as 'fluff', these books definitely had a part in shaping my life, educating me, and getting me interested in serious subjects.
I have one question someone may be able to answer. Why is it important to teach someone with autism eye contact (which was a large part of James' education in 'Inside Out'? I understand teaching things like how to dress, how to talk, how to eat a varied range of healthy foods, and stuff like how not to run into the street (as you may get run over)--eye contact seems more like a societal politeness, rather than a vital life skill. My knowledge of autism is still very limited so any help would be appreciated.
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Post by Crystal Clair on Aug 4, 2008 14:26:44 GMT -5
I'm an "aspie" too, however, it isn't one simple syndrome. There are many different degrees of it. There's highly functional and then there's something that's similar to what Susan has, although I dont recall them ever being specific on saying that it was aspergers.
I know lots of aspies, some more functional than others. I consider myself very functional but I know people who are less than me. Some of my obsessions are Pokemon, the BSC, anime, Japan, Japanese, languages, and geography but that's just touching the surface.
I have an autistic brother who is worse than Susan, him having no talents. He lives somewhere else but it's not too far from where we live so sometimes my mother has him over for the day. It's been tough living with a "retard" in the family as a kid, and not having a "normal" family.
Because of this, my mother's been through tough times.
And lately, my mom is starting to think my dad is an aspie.
With my aspie status, I know how to speak like a normal person but I was a bit too honest, like the whole deal with the "emperor's clothes" story. I'm learning but I used to be pretty brutal back then.
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Post by lovelylemontree on Aug 6, 2008 18:29:09 GMT -5
Susan doesn't have Asperger's.
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Post by candykane on Aug 14, 2008 23:03:32 GMT -5
I think it was a girl who came in with the record album and said that it was her grandmother's, and that's how she knew about it. Going to check my copy of the book...
Funny, I always thought that wasn't a real song and was something that AMM made up for the book.
I just checked:
Yes, it was a girl named Gina who came over to the Felder house with 'Sheik of Araby.' She said the record belonged to her grandparents.
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Post by wenonah4th on Aug 15, 2008 11:29:13 GMT -5
Ann was probably going as obscure as she could!
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Post by candykane on Aug 15, 2008 20:09:36 GMT -5
I'm surprised that Ann didn't make one of the kids come in the house and request for Susan to play the theme from I Love Lucy...or better yet, a song from The Wizard of Oz!
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Post by abbystevenson on Jun 22, 2009 2:03:45 GMT -5
*Bumped for rainbowgirl28*
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Post by wenonah4th on Jul 7, 2009 12:53:37 GMT -5
"As if we didn't have anythin g better to do than to stand here listening to her quote herself"
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
Posts: 3,664
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Post by Amalia on Jul 8, 2009 22:21:13 GMT -5
One thing about this book that's never seemed quite realistic to me is the bullying of the Hobarts. My school years were spent in a small town that was very...homogenous. Very little diversity. So if a person or family were to come in that were a little different, the kids would more likely be curious about them and want to befriend them, rather than make fun of them. I saw this happen more than once as my school/town slowly gained students that were of different ethnic or racial backgrounds. Just my experience... Also I can't believe that these bratty kids were just swaggering into the Hobarts' backyard to make fun of them. IIRC, the littlest Hobart didn't even want to play outside anymore because of that. Not cool. ^ Oh, totally. I lived in a small town in Montana once and we had adopted this little Chinese boy. And everybody kept wanting to talk to him and hang out with him, even though their efforts were getting rebuffed. They let him play quarterback at recess even though he sucked at football. Everybody wanted him on their teams (sports in general), even though he wasn't a good player. And a lot of people wanted to partner up with him for school projects. Heck, they even kept buying these little Chinese ninja star thingies from him even though he got them from a store from the next town over. It was just a relief to finally get someone different for a change.
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Post by sugarandspicexx on Jul 22, 2010 4:54:14 GMT -5
I once met a man who could actually do the same calender trick as Susan.. Around about the same time as I read this book the first time, funnily enough. Kristy is super ignorant in this book. She just simply does not understand Susan's condition at all, until the end of the book. Mrs Felder's story about how Susan came to be as she was at that time made me so sad! It's awful and yet fascinating to me that a person can be either absolutely normal or above average in development and then one day they're just... gone. Also, I love the Hobart boys! Apart from how sweet they all are, I love that there's an Aussie family in BSC land.
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nat2412
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 35
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Post by nat2412 on Sept 6, 2010 22:20:35 GMT -5
I love the Hobart boys in this one! I remember being so excited that an Australian family had moved into the neighbourhood. Reading how the other kids were saying things like "They talk funny, they say things like breakie!" made me laugh :-D I think they said something about eating weetbix from memory, which i love too! As for Susan, i agree with bscfan81 and sotypical, i also thought Kristy just naturally assumed she would be able to fix things and eventually had to admit she couldn't. Though not a favourite, i really like this book, will have to re-read soon i think. :-)
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Post by wenonah4th on Sept 7, 2010 6:00:22 GMT -5
There are several Aussies on these boards, by the way, nat.
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nat2412
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 35
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Post by nat2412 on Sept 7, 2010 22:54:17 GMT -5
Yeah, i've noticed! Lot's of us BSC fans downunder! :-D
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Post by anzuhana on Nov 10, 2010 11:02:55 GMT -5
I hated Mel and all the kids that paid a dollar to have Susan tell what day a certain date was along with the kids at the assembly. I wish that Hope was born and that we could've read about her.
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Post by zoar3 on Nov 10, 2010 17:02:48 GMT -5
^I wish that Hope had been born, also. This book took place during the BSC's second year of 8th Grade, so the Ghosties had 11 more to chose from! (In terms of having Hope be born).
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