Did anyone else see "Beautiful Young Minds" last night?

[isgrassgreener]

I thought it was really interesting.
Now that really is G & T.
Made me wonder if being like that is a gift or a curse?
The two aspergers boys were very different and it really showed how each person with AS is such and individual.
My AS DS who is 7 is very interested in maths, but nowhere like those children.

[coppertop]

I watched it too and really enjoyed it. It was very easy to spot the boys who had AS/ASD. I did find myself smiling at some of the things they said. The logical replies and formal language reminded me a lot of my two.

I remember there being discussions on here about interests and obsessions and the way other people view them. No-one gives it a second thought when a boy knows all the statistics of a football team but if they show a similar level of interest in buses, trains or timetables then they are seen as being weird.

I'm very of their maths abilities though. They were amazing.

[isgrassgreener]

I thought that the boy who spent a lot of time in China was really interesting.
His comment about the "Chinese not thinking he was odd, but a westerner, whereas in the UK , people thought he was odd" (not what he said, I know, but what he meant, I think)
made me feel a bit sad, as it must be so hard always being seen as the different one, even when you are really smart.
It also showed that whole it's not cool to be smart culture, that exists here, but in China it is really respected.

[Hassled]

It was a great programme - really sensitively handled.
One thing that interested me - the boy of Chinese origin hated the Chinese - was quite shockingly unpleasant about them (bad relationship with his parents?), whereas Daniel seemed to hate the people he'd grown up with at school etc and went to China to escape.

[deeeja]

Oh no!
I missed this!
What channel was it on?
Do you think it will be repeated?
Sounds great though!

[flyingmum]

It was on BBC2 and was fantastic. Very funny in places and we all landed up rooting for the boy who had the Chinese Girlfriend (now wife!) and who nearly didn't get to go to the IMO but got a silver medal in the end. Josh's assessment of Asperger's and the autistic spectrum was brilliant. It did make me appreciate my son though because although he has Asperger's he has far more knowledge and depth of emotion than some of the people filmed and I'd rather have that and him being crap at maths than the other way round.

[UniSarah]

good film wasn't it. NOt too haevey on teh ASD stuff, but i did find my slef wondering after 3 mins if they would all be freak, geeks or aspies ( and boys).
Was odd to think taht some of them may Dhs work mates in a few years. He works in an area where just about every one has as cience degree and social skills are not as important as interlectul ability. Tho as Dh said, undergrads who are that brilliant in tehir 1st year have a good chance of ending up with only a 2.1 or worse as they find their level mathmaticly or can't cope with life out side maths. he taught lads like that when he ws doing his phd.

[isgrassgreener]

I don't know if any of you have seen the thread on this in G & T.
Some of the comments made me feel cross and really sad that people seem to know so little about what it is like to have an ASD.

[cornsilk]

I thought it was brilliant. Have commented on the other thread.Which comments made you sad grass is greener?

[isgrassgreener]

The comments about Josh not being "taught properly" how to get on with other people and not be so arrogant.
And the reference to it being a bit of a "freaks show".

[cornsilk]

I missed them. I'm going to have another look at that thread.

[isgrassgreener]

Mind you I don't expect others to understand what it is like to be a parent of an AS child, so don't normally get cross with others about it.
I think it's my problem as it's in G & T and I often feel that the parents are so full of how wonderful their DC's are, that they don't often think about what it is like to have a child who if different in what is seen as a difficult way.
I don't know if that makes any sense.

[shinyhappytonks]

I thought the programme was very good, but wished the interviewer would stop asking Josh 'how he felt' [hmmm]

I found it very informative to see how children on the Autistic/ASD spectrum can have been given the same 'label' but be very different. I know very little about Autism, but the programme made me realise that it is almost a transparent disability, and that daily life for those who have it and/or care for someone with it must be incredibly hard.

The programme should also have been put on BBC 1

[cornsilk]

Yes I understand you absolutely. Have seen the comments you referred to. The nature/behaviour of AS chn is difficult to understand. My ds has been assessed as being at 'high risk' of AS ( no dx, mainly 'cos of SALT opinion and we didn't really fight it - will see what happens in the future). Unless you have real experience of living with/ working with AS people I'm not sure if you really could. So the comment about Jos not being 'taught' to get along with people and about parental input, well, I'd may have thought that too in the past.

[isgrassgreener]

I suppose in a programme like that you identify with the people who interest you most. So many of the G & T parents wanted to see NT gifted children, not AS children. I however indentified more with the AS children and what life was like for them, especially as they were teenagers and my DS is only 7 and we don't really know anyone with AS older than 10.
What made me sad was what Josh (or was it Joss?) said about his parents something like "I know what we give each other, they give me food and somewhere to live and I sort out the computer for them. It was so plain and simple for him, but for us as parents, it is so hard to think that that is how your child may feel about you.

[cornsilk]

Agree! I'd have liked to have seen more of Jos and Daniel even tho' they got most of the programme time anyway! Can understand why parents of NT chn wanted to see less of the AS boys.

[coppertop]

I read somewhere (will see if I can find it again) that the IMO stuff was originally being filmed as part of a different documentary. The film-makers found it so interesting that they decided to make it into a film of its own.

I think the G&T thread showed that sometimes people don't always understand how even small things can be a huge achievement for someone with SN. In her interview Jos' mother said that the fact that Jos would be able to manage at the camp was a huge achievement - not because of the maths side of things but because they had been told that Jos would probably never be able to live independently. People who have never had to even consider the possibility of their own child needing care even as adults tend to take this for granted. They wouldn't stop to think that social niceties come waaaaay down the list after things like teaching their ds to wipe his own bum, teaching their ds to realise that he needs to eat every day etc.

Being very able in some areas means that many people will assume that the person can apply those abilities to other areas of their life, eg Jos can learn complex formulae so of course he should be able to learn social skills.

[Chocol8]

I've just watched this on video tonight, but the tape was very poor quality sadly. I thoroughly enjoyed it and agree it showed a marked difference between Joss and Daniel. (Wasn't Daniel lovely?)

Some of the comments Joss made and the way he said them really reminded me of my brother. And Daniel didn't have a clue about how to make a cup of tea or coffee but earned a silver medal in the IMO!

I really hope they repeat this programme soon - i would watch it again right now if i could. Fascinating viewing.

[AeFondKiss]

A good thread. I know I am a bit late to this, but I thought of this board when I read about the beautiful minds programme(I didn't see it, but hope if it is repeated, I can ask my mum to record it for me...).


I read Katherine Flett's review of it in the paper... which annoyed me at the time(can't think why now though lol)

isgassgreener, I really liked what you said about "always being seen as the different one" I thought that of my ds very recently, he is only 3 and at ms nursery, but I had one of those sort of moments and it makes me cry thinking about it!