The Small Outsider

While reading, I tried to put myself into the mother's position, David's mother. I felt numerous emotions came over me, but the main one was exhaustion. Every once in a while, David would just fight with his mother when she told tell him to sit or calm down. He would scream and scratch her, and it made her feel as if  there was no communication between a mother and her child. One day, they decided to go to the pool and Ellen, David's older sister, was so excited. She swam, kicked, and splashed and was far away from David.  I also learned that David didn't want to meet anyone else at the pool because when children came over, he began to get upset and splash at them. His mother tried her best to tell the children to leave David alone but they wouldn't listen. Then, one child splashed back at David. David screamed and began banging his head against the floor. His mother knew it was time to go home and called Ellen to come over. Ellen was upset, she didn't want to leave the pool, but she knew she had to. She was worried about her younger brother. David apparently didn't want to go home either. He began to scream and he clung onto the rungs of the pool as his mother and Ellen tried to pull him off so they could go home. People at the pool began to watch and stare in shock. Ellen felt even worse, because people were staring at her and they didn't understand the condition David was in. David's mother decided that people should know about autistic children so she and her friends decided to write a book about little David called, "The Small Outsider."

The Small Outsider

In the book, The Small Outsider, I have learned many things about autism. One of the theories for why someone might have an autistic child is because the parent is not very fond of the child but I strongly disagree.   Even though a child and a parent may not have a very strong connection, this doesn't mean that the child will have a  disorder. Some parents can have a strong connection with a child and later find out that their child has autism. I also learned that most autistic children have brain damage and that their emotions will change differently than other people's emotions. For example, an autistic child may laugh while everyone else in the room might be crying because of a terrible event. I also learned that David has quite a few allergies. David is allergic to peanut butter, eggshells, and a specific type of plant. When he would touch or smell these specific items, he would begin to swell and it would be harder and harder for him to breathe. Sometimes, when I think of allergies, the first thing I think of is a little girl explaining a long list of items that she can't have or even smell. This little girl would always remain calm and know exactly what to do in case of an emergency. David on the other hand, wasn't calm. As his mother was taking him to the doctor, he kept fussing until he took something that made the swelling stop. David was turning out to be a handful and David's mother kept getting letters saying that she should come and visit her father but she simply didn't have the time. When she finally started thinking about it, it was too late. Her father had passed away. She wanted to go to her father's funeral, but she was concerned about David so she wasn't able to come.