Christopher’s Social Learning Disabilities 1 Lack of Awareness of Others
suffers from autism tends to withdraw himself from his social environment. So, it is not surprising if an autistic boy such as Christopher has this characteristic.
”Talking to strangers is not something I usually do. I do not like talking to the strangers. I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met
before. They are hard to understand.” 34. In the statement above Christopher says that he does not like talking to a
stranger. He does not like new people around him. He does not like to open himself for new people who come in his life. It indicates that he does not like to
interact with people around him. “It takes me along time to get used to people I do not know. For example, when there is a new member of staff at school I do not
talk to them for weeks and weeks. I just watch them until I know that they are safe.” 35.
Christopher says that he needs along time to make him open himself to other people. The way he interacts to new people around him indicates that he is a
person who is difficult to open himself to a new environment. According to Byrna Siegel, it happens because an autistic boy is lack awareness of others. It
means that they fail to apprehend how people around him do the interaction. For that reason, it is hard for Christopher to interact with new people around him.
Further, Byrna Siegel also explains that an autistic person tends to withdraw himself from his social environment. It also happens to Christopher who also does
not open himself to new people around him. So, it can be concluded that Christopher is an introvert person.
2 Lack of Social and Emotional Reciprocity
An autistic child has lack of social and emotional reciprocity. It can be seen when a child is uninterested in doing things to please his parents or others. He is
uninterested to learn a new thing to earn attention or approval of other people Siegel 91. An autistic child, generally, has a low desire to please other people
and a low response to social praise. Christopher also has this characteristic, Christopher is a stubborn boy. It can
be seen when his father asks him to stay out from the murder case but, Christopher does not obey his father’s advice. “I decided that I was going to find
out who killed Wellington even though father had told me to stay out of other people’s business.” 28.”Christopher decides to continue his investigation about
the murder of Mrs. Shears’s dog, Wellington. Even though, his father has warned him not to interfere other people business but he still wants to find the murderer of
dog. He knows that his father will be angry if his father knows that he still does this investigation.
Then Father asked,” What the hell you were doing in her garden?” I said,” I was doing my detective work trying to find out who killed
Wellington.” Father replied,” How many times do I have to tell you Christopher?”
Father said, “I told you to keep your nose out of other person’s business.” I said, “I think Mr. Shears probably killed Wellington.”
Father did not say anything 48-49
The conversation above shows that Christopher’s father knows Christopher’s activities in Mrs. Shear’s garden. He is angry and he asks Christopher to stop his
investigation. Christopher realizes that his father is angry because he is not PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
allowed to investigate the murder of the dog. But since he wants to find the murderer of the dog he keeps doing the investigation.
Christopher’s decision to keep continuing his investigation to find out the murderer of the dog, although his father has told him not to do this investigation,
obviously shows that Christopher is a stubborn boy. It can also be said that he is uninterested to earn attention or approval of his father. He does not need his
father’s approval to continue his investigation. This is one characteristic of an autistic boy which is named lack of social and emotional reciprocity.
3 Lack of Social Imitation
Usually, children learn new thing by copying other children and adults automatically. It is because most things that others do are a bit or very interesting,
merely because someone else is engaged in their activity. An autistic child does not seem to be motivated to copy action from other people Siegel 92.
Byrna Siegel’s theory about an autistic child who has lack of social imitation can also be seen in Christopher. Christopher has different point of view about
constellation from common people. He has his own opinion about Orion constellation.
People say that Orion is called Orion because Orion was a hunter and the constellation looks like a hunter with a club and a bow and arrow, like this
But this is really silly because it just stars and you could join up the dots in any way you wanted, and you could make it look like a lady with an
umbrella who is waving or the coffee maker which Mrs. Shears has, which is from Italy, with a handle and steam coming out, or like dinosaur. 125
The Quotation above explains Christopher’s opinion about constellation Orion. People say that constellation Orion is called Orion because Orion is a
hunter with a club and bow and arrow. He criticizes this public opinion about Orion constellation. He said that everyone can join up the dots in any way they
wanted. So, it does not always look like an Orion but it can be a lady with an umbrella or coffee maker which Mr. Shears has.
His logical thinking is obviously seen in this case. This fact also proves that he seems not interested to copy what other people say. This fact is appropriate to
Byrna Siegel’s theory about autistic person who seems not interested to copy other people’s action.
b. Christopher’s Communicative Learning Disabilities 1 Deficits in Understanding Body language and Facial Expression
A child who suffers from autism appears to have poor comprehension of gestures or facial expression such as smile or nods of encouragement, frowning,
shaking head “no” Siegel 94. It is described in the novel that Christopher as an autistic boy also has difficulty in understanding body languages and facial
expressions. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
… then she drew some other pictures
But I was unable to say what these meant. I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to hem exactly what they meant. I
kept the piece of paper in my pocket and took it out when I didn’t understand what some was saying. But, it was very difficult to decide
which of the diagrams was most like the face they were making because people faces move very quickly 3.
Christopher asks Siobhan, his teacher, to explain the meaning of some facial expressions because he does not understand the meaning of facial expressions she
has drawn. He says that it is very difficult to decide which of the diagrams most like the expressions that people make. It is because people’s faces move very
quickly. This fact shows that he has a problem in understanding facial expressions.
Christopher says that he is confused when he tries to understand people who are talking without using any word but using facial expression. It is because
Christopher is not able to understand some facial expression’s meaning. “I find people confusing. This is for two main reasons. The first reason is that people do a
lot of talking without using any words. “Siobhan says that if you raise one eye brow, it can mean lots of different thing. it can mean ”I want to do sex with you”
and it can also mean” I think that you just said was very stupid”.” 14. Then his teacher, Siobhan, explains to him the meaning of several facial expressions. This
fact is a proof that shows an autistic person is hard to apprehend the meaning of facial expressions.
Christopher does not like people laughing at him. Even though, the person who laughs at him does not always mean insulting him. Christopher is a little bit angry
when Rhodri laughs at him, “I don’t like when Rhodri laughs at me a lot. Father says it is being friendly.” 67. Then his father explains to him that Rhodri’s
laughs do not mean insulting him. This fact indicates that he is not able understand well the meaning of laughing and it can be concluded that Christopher
who suffers from autism is hard to understand other people’s facial expression.
2 Deficits in Expressive Body Language and Facial Expressiveness
An autistic child does not use a full or subtle range of facial expressiveness or body language to convey emotion communicatively 94. In another word, it
means that an autistic person usually communicates with other people without using any facial expressions because they have problem in using body language
and facial expression. Christopher has an unusual way in expressing body language.
I stepped outside. Father was standing in the corridor. He held up his hand and spread his finger out in a fan. I held up my left hand and spread my
fingers out in a fan and we made our fingers and thumbs touch each other. We do this because sometimes father wants to give me a hug, but I do not
like hugging people so we do this instead, and it means that he loves me 16.
Christopher is an untouchable person. He does not like being touched by other people including his parents. He does not like being hugged by his father so they
have unusual way instead of hugging. They spread their fingers in a fan until their fingers touch each other. Based on this fact, it can be interpreted that Christopher
has difficulty in expressing body language. The way he expresses love is different with common people.
On one occasion, Christopher hits the policeman because the policeman asks many questions about the murder of the dog. These questions make Christopher
get confused and not able to answer the questions from the policeman. Because Christopher can not answer the question, the policeman decides to hold
Christopher’s arm and it makes Christopher angry and hit him. “The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn’t like him touching me like
this and this is when I hit him.” 8. His response toward the policeman action shows that he has difficulty in expressing body language. So, it can be concluded
that Christopher has difficulty in expressing body language.
3 Deficits in Understanding Spoken Language
Most autistic children have “selective hearing” which means an autistic child responds to some thing like a jingle but no to others. For autistic children, words
or phrases once heard may not reappear increasingly or ever again. This is why they have difficulties in understanding spoken language Siegel 94-95.
This audio disorder also can be found in Christopher’s characteristic. The following proves that Christopher suffers from this disorder.
He was asking too many questions and he was asking them too quickly. They were striking up in my head like loaves in the factory where uncle
terry works. The factory is bakery and he operates the slicing machines. And Sometimes a slicer is not working fast enough but the bread keeps
coming and there is a blockage. And I sometimes think of my mind as a bread-slicing machine 7
The way he compares his mind to a machine is a proof that sometimes he thinks imaginatively. He describes the way his mind processes something, is
similar to the way the bread slicing machine processes something. This quotation is evidence that Christopher is hard to understand what someone says to him.
When the policeman gives him too many questions quickly, he says that it is like a slicer which is not working fast enough but the bread keeps coming out and there
is a blockage. So, he tries to comprehend the question from the policeman but before he
understands it, the policeman asks him another question. It makes him unable to answer all questions from the policeman because he needs a lot of time to
understand a sentence before he continues thinking other sentences. That Christopher has difficulty in understanding spoken language is obviously seen in
this case.