The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #126537 Message #2811594
Posted By: Lizzie Cornish 1
14-Jan-10 - 04:18 AM
Thread Name: BS: The Horse Boy, An Autistic Child's story
Subject: BS: The Horse Boy, An Autistic Child's story
I've literally just watched the man who wrote this book, talking on BBC Breakfast News, and wanted to share it with people in here, for whom it may be of great interest.
Rupert Isaacson's son, Rowan, was diagnosed with autism at the age of two.
To cut a long story short, Rupert noticed that his horse, Betsy, was always so kind to Rowan, whenever he took Rowan to see her, submissive, understanding, almost going out of her way to go to the child.
And they showed the most extraordinary scene where Rowan, screaming uncontrollably was staggering across the field with his father, violence and unhappiness eminating from every part of him. They took him into Betsy's stable and put him on her back and instantly, literally, instantly Rowan calmed down...then he lay down and put his arms around Betsy's neck. The horse will let him do anything, just standing their patiently....and Rowan has absolute empathy and understanding of the horse.
It was quite extraordinary.
Not only that, but Rowan started to talk, again, almost straight away, coming out with some of the words he'd learned at age 2, before the autism robbed him of every single one of them.
This story became a BBC Four documentary last November, but sadly I missed it...and it seems it's now become a film in it's own right.
The doctors and scientists cannot explain what's happening here, although there is a school of thought in Germany that believes that when the brain is put into a situation where it has to focus strongly on balance, it frees up the speech receptors and gives out the hormones of 'feeling good' which in turn help to bring on a huge calmness...
It was quite the most extraordinary thing I've ever seen...wonderful to behold..and Rupert says that his horse has given them their son back again..
Anyway, I just thought that this may help some folks in here, who I know have autism in their families...
Here is the link to Rupert's story about his son, and the film that has been born from it....