Autism: The Musical

I saw this documentary this evening on HBO called Autism: The Musical.

Wow. It was amazing.

This woman, whose son, adopted from Russia, has a severe case of autism. She spent about six months spearheading this project that takes autistic kids all over the spectrum and put them in a musical where they act, dance, and sing. The documentary follows five families and their autistic kids throughout the whole process. They share their heartache, their happiness, and huge victories with every small advancement they make with their kids.

The moment that just killed me was when the mother took her son to a speech therapist. The boy was almost totally nonverbal and unable to communicate properly and prone to outbursts and tantrums. The speech therapist placed a keyboard in front of him and told him to tell his mother something that he wanted to say. He typed out, "Mom. I want to put you on the spot." Oh. My. Goodness. Kleenex out, tears rolling. "I want you to be a better listener."

Holy Shnikes. Can you believe it? The kid was totally cognitive just unable to verbalize!!!

Mr. Donaghy and I talked for a moment about how scary the whole thing was but the film was so hopeful and sweet and sad.

Two thumbs up.