In case you haven't read Ron Suskind's Life Animated (or seen the movie--I have not watched it), here's a very brief summary followed by a few comments.
Summary
Suskind gives his family's personal story which is dominated by his son Owen's autism. Often autistic people have an obsession. Disney movies are a common and Owen displayed a fascination with them from a young age. Eventually, Suskind and his wife realized that Owen was using dialogue from the movies to communicate and Disney sidekicks to cope with life. With this knowledge, the Suskind family used Owen's obsession with Disney to engage with him and get him to engage with the world. Suskind provides a trajectory of Owen's life from being a toddler to young adulthood. At the end, we see Owen as a young adult enrolled in a college program designed for young adults like him. He has begun a relationship with a woman he met there and he is a talented artist.
Comments
One of the biggest contributors to Owen's success was his strong family support, which was anchored in the teamwork displayed by his mother and father. The Suskinds communicated regularly about what each was observing in Owen and tried to brainstorm about what their observations meant. Both parents were very active in engaging Owen to enter into Owen's world so that their son could enter into the larger world.
