Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Autism: The Musical



I got to hang out with some autistic kids a few days ago and it was pretty touching. This dynamic pixie named Elaine Hall, who coached the toddlers in "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" back in the day, gets them to sing and dance. One sweet kid named Zoey quickly befriended an HBO publicist and started doing a jig with her.

Hall and her son, who has autism, are seen in "Austism: The Musical" -- great title, right? - - a documentary I'm covering for the New York Time that airs March 25 on HBO.

When I lived in the Old Country, this beautiful four year old boy who lived in the big front house used to twirl around in the backyard and got more dis-engaged from social contact the longer we knew him. His mom had a tough time accepting that her son was autistic. I've been kind of fascinated ever since with this condition. Brilliant kids, often times, for whom the world is just too noisy.

link to New York Times story

No comments: