Now it's Movie Time!

Chandni resolved to warn Ria that she might have to change her CCA activity if she did not behave well in class.

Chandni was seeing impatience in Ria at home too, and a tendency towards rudeness. She resolved to limit her screen time to half an hour, as she had noticed that whenever her screen time went up, she would start acting up.

Autism of late also features in many serials, such as Extraordinary Attorney Woo, or The Good Doctor and Atypical. Although initially Chandni had found it too painful to watch these, she resolved to give them another go.

Autism movies on her to-watch list, courtesy this roundup, included I am Sam, What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and Rain Man. The last of these had framed people's thinking about autistics probably till the movie on Temple Grandin came along in 2010. Starring Dustim Hoffman and Tom Cruise, it depicted a severely autistic man, rather than the positive message about autism conveyed in the movie on Grandin.

Chandni had also come across references to Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love, in the course of her reading on autism initially. Although it dealt with a severe case of autism, it seemed worth a watch.

Chandni read about Temple Grandin’s thinking strategies in Thinking in Pictures – how she would combine two thoughts to make sense of the world, like I’m not afraid of heights, and a plan flies in the sky, so I’m not afraid of flying.

She resolved to think of how she could similarly frame and have a conversation with Ria, so that she would be more respectful at home and in school. She read that Temple too, showed a gift for art in grade one and two, and felt comforted that Ria too, was following that path.

Ria knew she had to colour in the lines better. Her perfectionism demanded that, but her impatience would hold sway. Chandni had tried putting on a body scan meditation or yog nidra on YouTube once to get her to sleep in the day, and it had worked.

She vowed to weave yog nidra in Ria’s bedtime ritual as a practice, to try and calm her down. Meanwhile, channeling Ria’s energy in activities like swimming, that renewed her, were important, so that she would be less abrasive.

Attwood’s sheet on an autistic person’s ledger book was useful, and Chandni resolved to print it and share it with Ria, so that she could follow it. Withdrawals might be social niceties, but deposits would be time spent in nature and so on.

Ria’s adventures would continue as she grew, but we will get to know of them as time passes. Wish them luck. They’ll see you soon.

This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z.