Third Book Club Meeting

For our third book club meeting our group agreed to read chapters 20-30.  We begun our discussion by talking about Caitlin's literal interpretation of everything and how difficulty interpreting figurative or expressive language is very typical of individuals on the Autism spectrum.  In particular we discussed the conversation Caitlin had with her dad when he asked her how she felt about going to middle school next year, because that is where her brother was killed, but she said she wasn't nervous because they don't have recess in middle school and she doesn't like recess.  Although her father was referring to the correlation between Caitlin's new school and her brother's death Caitlin didn't make the connection and answered the question literally.  Her father then asked her if she wanted to go to a private school and Caitlin said she would if it meant she was the only person there but when she learned that private did not literally mean she was the only one she said she didn't want to go.  I noticed that throughout the book despite Caitlin's literal interpretation of everything her father never seems to ask her questions that would result in Caitlin answering what he intended to ask, he continues to ask questions in figurative contexts and seems surprised when he doesn't get the response he was looking for.  We thought that this was likely because Caitlin's father was trying to cope with the death of his wife and son while still trying to be there for Caitlin, resulting in his overlooking these types of things.  

Our group also discussed Caitlin's determination to finish Devon's eagle scout project. Caitlin thought that finishing Devon's eagle scout project would bring closure to her and her father.  We also talked about how she drew an eagle on a T-shirt hoping her dad would realize that she wanted to finish Devon's project and how that was another example of her literal use of language.  

Lastly, we talked about the difficulties that parents of children with Autism face and how different sources of support can be helpful in teaching parents how to overcome obstacles and better understand their children.  

For our next meeting we agreed to read the final ten chapters of the book.