Rupert Isaacson and The Horse Boy

Last week, I was fortunate to be at a screening of The Horse Boy in London followed by an appearance by Rupert Isaacson for a Q&A session. Isaacson runs a centre in Texas for autistic children and their siblings to socialise and interact with each other in a fun, low-stress setting.

I won't wax on how amazing the entire story of taking his autistic son to Mongolia to visit various shamans was, because of course it's amazing and if you're really interested, the book and film are available from Isaacson's website. What I will talk about is something that Isaacson said during the Q&A session after the movie.

Isaacson posed the question, why shouldn't we teach children where they want to be taught instead of using traditional methods where they have to be in a classroom? Why can't the outdoors be the new classroom? At his New Trails Center, children are free to choose where they want to learn, and as a consequence, the lessons are easier and tend to stick better. The key message that I took home was that autism is just another way of seeing the world, not something that should be seen as devastating and a disappointment. If you can learn to accomodate for a child's particular quirks, you can learn a lot.

Check out the short version of the story in Isaacson's own words: