Autism The Musical Analysis

Watching Autism: The Musical showed me how students with autism and other developmental disabilities interacted in a social setting such as creating a musical. More importantly, this film highlighted how parents cope with their child having developmental disabilities and the struggles they face. The director of the play adopted her son, Neal at twenty-three months and immediately knew he was different. Neal would scream and have tantrums. There came a point where Neal would not speak. She realized when she hired theater performers to spend time with Neal that it helped him focus. This was when The Miracle Project began starring autistic children. The film focused on the parents and the children’s journey to create a musical. The thought of …show more content…
I found the children to be extremely interesting because they were all profoundly smart in their own ways. However, no two children were the same and acted in the same manner which intrigued me. I assumed that children with autism acted the same as one another. It interested me to learn about the children and how they all differed from each other, even though they all were autistic. Wyatt intrigued me the most out of all the children. He had a profound vocabulary along with an awareness of his surroundings that made him understand even the slightest gestures. Wyatt was extremely smart and could pick up on cues easily. For example, Wyatt understood that other students were bullying him. The way he spoke and interacted with others was unlike other children with autism. This was new to me because I presumed all children with autism acted like Neal, being very quiet and did not speak. I never realized that children with autism acted differently than other children with autism. That may sound silly even though I realized they had their own personality, but I assumed they acted the same as others did. The children in the film also had unique talents. Lexi had a beautiful voice, Adam played songs on the cello without looking at the strings, and Henry knew every detail about dinosaurs. I believe the musical was a genuine way for people like myself to understand that a child with autism can participate in …show more content…
In my mind, autism was a disease that prohibited children from experiencing the world and being their own person. Watching this film, I am now aware and fully understand that having autism does not constrain children. Autism is a minor roadblock in children’s life but, in the end they will get to the finish line. That was the motto I acquired for the film because the stereotype I believed about autism made me believe that they were incapable of doing out of the ordinary tasks such as being in a musical. Before watching this film, I had zero knowledge about autism. I never encountered a child with autism or learned about autism. I made presumptions about autism that I wish I never made but those presumptions became overturned by the truth. Even though this video gave me a small glimpse about autism and how it affects children and parents, I feel more insightful on the topic now. I am grateful to have watched this video before learning fully about autism because I was able to experience real life examples of how autism affects children. I learned how children with autism interact in social settings and how each child is unique from one another along with how parents cope with having a child with autism. I had the chance to hear parents struggle and what paths they needed to overcome. Overall, this film has opened my eyes to autism and