Tricia Regan’s 2007 HBO documentary “Autism: The Musical”
follows five autistic children (and then some others) over six months as they
prepare a musical for public performance in a southern California school. (The
film seems to be shot around Culver City and Venice, CA). The kids are supposed to “write” the script,
which is loosely about time-travel and moving about among different historical
periods on one canvas, itself an interesting sci-fi concept that I have played
with. In the final performance, some of the kids play various musical
instruments, including cello (with a rehearsal of the theme from Maurice Ravel’s
“Bolero”). They perform in green
T-shirts as a uniform, often singing in unison as a team. The effort was called
the “Miracle Project Workshop”.
But the film also explores the reactions of the parents
raising the kids, starting with Neal who was adopted from Russia, something not
possible today. In almost all cases, the
kids suddenly lost function after starting to develop normally.
There are some sobering interviews. One mother says that “these kids are not
valued enough” by others in society. She
says that until they are valued, they won’t have the same rights as everybody
else, and she specifically says that nothing will be done about mandatory
vaccines. This is an aside, but I think
that medically there is probably no relation between vaccines and autism, and
there are compelling public health reasons for vaccinations. The mother says
that she hopes he outlives her child.
One of the boys says that he does not like it when “kids go
into their own world. How are they going to make friends?”
At least one parent is a single mother, the husband having
left when the child was about eight.
The film starts out by pointing out that in 1980, only 1
child in 10,000 was diagnosed as autistic; now it is 1 in 150 (much more in
boys). But there is a question, have the
diagnostic criteria changed?
A few of the children are higher functioning and said to
have Asperger’s syndrome. Some cases are
so high in functioning that there is really no disability (other that what is
imposed by the social demands of others).
And a few kids seem to outgrow it, as with Jmac (basketball) and Jake
Barnett (university physics) as on my Books blog (March 8, 2008 and July 4,
2013)
The boy Henry (in the Stills family), originally consumed
with specialize knowledge of Jurassic Park (and perhaps velociraptors) is said
to have taken up karate. Wyatt as able to gradually mainstream in public
schools. Two of the teachers
married.
When I worked as a substitute teacher from 2004-2007, I
sometimes found myself on special education assignments, even though I had not
put that on my profile. In a very few
instances, the degree of intimacy needed was more than I was prepared for. I punted.
My life had gone a separate course and not prepared me for this.
The official site is here. The film was originally on cable and won some
Emmy’s.
.
The DVD includes 35 minutes of deleted scenes. Accolades to New Video and Docurama for informing the viewer of the time taken by the scenes and the length of each scene; most rented videos don't do that. The extra scenes show more interactions with the kids, some of it in Spanish. There is one more vocal number. and a "Whole Children Whole Planet Expo." Some kids are on a diary-free and gluten-free diet, which seems related to controlling autism sometimes. There is a clip on impulse control in autistic children. There is a clip on some teacher's accepting a mainstreamed student. There is some bonding with younger instructional assistants or student teachers.
I have two other recent "film" reviews on other blogs today. There is a review of “The Poisoner’s Handbook” (PBS) on the
TV blog January 7; there is a review of “U.S.
Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments” from the “Just the Facts Leaning
Series” on my new Wordpress media blog here.
Picture: Disneyland, my trip, 2012.
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