Asperger's explanation tonight on Parenthood

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It turns out that I won't be watching it tonight. I have to be up early tomorrow and I want to get over my cold. I'll be watching it when it comes out on YouTube.

It doesn't really "explain" AS.

But it was a nice episode all the same. Wish my parent's were as understanding as Max's. If he had my parents, Max would've been spanked at least three times tonight.

Last edited by XFilesGeek on 02 Mar 2011, 12:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

huh? max wasn't spanked at all. and it kind of did explain AS.

Whoops! I meant "would've," not "wouldn't." Fixed.

Anyway, it didn't get into the diagnostic criteria. Mostly, it just showed Max being Max, which I guess is okay too. I think I'm just being too technical.

I think that wasn't done so that the show could pull more towards being a regular primetime show and not be such an exposé on autism.

I watched this episode. I was glad to find out about this as I haven't watched the past 3 episodes. I wasn't planning on watching it until I found out.

I've been watching Parenthood, and I'll watch this episode tomorrow when it's on Hulu.

I'm annoyed at the parents for not telling him about Asperger's earlier. Max goes to a special school for kids with disabilites. He has a behavioral aide. Surely he's realized by now that he's different from other kids. He should have received at least some sort of explanation earlier.

I'm about to check it out at the nbc web site for free (with stupid ads).

Yes, most of us have noticed something different about us by the time we find out about AS-- and/or our classmates have noticed.

Yes. Telling the kid is ridiculously important. As soon as there's any possible indication that he could understand the concept in its very simplest form (i.e., You're different and we love you), he should be told. And even then you can't always assume that the kid doesn't understand just because he can't express it. Keeping it a secret just doesn't make sense. Talking about it casually to him just like any other part of his life makes it a much less threatening thing and much more a normal part of his life, as it should be.

I was a little disappointed in last night's episode. I saw the writers focused on the parents' understanding of aspergers more than the need to articulate to a child that he has aspergers.

In my own real life experience it was very easy to to share my son's diagnosis with him. But I am AS. I don't come from the NT perspective that this is a disability-omg-no-don't-say-disability or that it's only negative where anything positive is just "spin". I'm not so saturated in how my child's AS affects me that I could not even see the positive traits of my child. I think that's what we saw in last night's episode.

I think we saw a father who's been at his limit with selfish bitterness and resentment over the stress and strain of having to accommodate a special needs child, struggle to find the positive side and connect with his son. It wasn't about giving Max a good memory, it was about giving him a good memory. The experience at the theme park woke him up that this isn't all about him, his son is a whole person with needs to consider and that comes first.

You also need to remember that Adam Braverman is based on Gil Buckman from the 1989 movie Parenthood. These are two Ron Howard projects. Howard had attempted a previous sit-com version of Parenthood years ago and it flopped horribly. I think he's hit a good formula at the right time with this one. Anyway, Gil Buckman was a stressed out, overworked father who was also overwhelmed by his family. Back in the 80's, it was conceivable that a man could be overwhelmed by a family with 3 young kids. Nowadays, not so much. So they gave him two kids, one is a teenager and the other is a young boy with Aspergers so people are better able to understand his stress. He's designed to be out of control, dying to lash out for something that he considers "a good time" (but it never turns out that way), and always carrying that chip on his shoulder because of unresolved resentment toward his father. They also tweeked the former Karen Buckman, now Kristina Braverman, to become a bit more defensive and suffering from a blatant inability to communicate productively with anyone, even if they're agreeing with her or trying to help.

Slight other differences to note:

Crosby Braverman (Larry Buckman) is still a screw up but does not abandon his family, least of all does he leave his son with his parents. He is currently trying to repair the damage he's made to his family. His son, Jabbar Trussel (Cool Buckman) has a very involved mother present in the storyline, Jasmine Trussel.

Julia Braverman-Graham (Susan Buckman) and husband Joel Graham (Nathan Huffner) aren't yuppies in the sense that they were in the 80's, nor do they have the same elitest pressure placed on their daughter, Sydney Graham (Patty Huffner). They do, however, have her enrolled in a private school. Joel Graham is a SAHD, former Contractor, not a vague suit and tie business man.

Zeek Braverman (Frank Buckman) has a more involved role for the duration of the series while also revealing more of the softer side that the movie counterpart had shown. Camille Braverman, however, has an actual role, where the wife of Frank Buckman and mother of Gil, Helen, Susan and Larry just seems little more than a role an extra could have filled in the movie.

Sarah Braverman (Helen Buckman) is still a single mother of two; however, instead of having an ex-husband who abandons his two kids for the sake of having a successful upper class lifestyle with a new family - something that nobody would accept in this day since we have Child Support Enforcement offices and so on - she has an ex who abandons his kids because of drug addiction and general inept parenting skills. We even get to see the father in a couple episodes so far, Seth Holt, whereas he was a nameless and uncredited voice with an empty office in the movie. Also, both children are comparable teen ages and have a greater communicate and bonding with each other, something that is naturally more expected in their situation than the two autonomous rebels of the movie.

Yes, I like the show.

Just watched the first ten or so minutes online, and am not in the least impressed.

Both the kid and the parents acted like they were telling him he had inoperable cancer. Pretty much made me want to vomit.

Great job again Hollywood.

NOT.

I just saw it and I could relate to the beginning where his parents said his brain is wired differently and he processing things different and hit mind works different than other peoples.

My parents never acted that way about my AS when I was diagnosed unless they did it behind my back but I doubt they did.

But it is a disability and they should just be honest about it than sugarcoating it. If he asks about it, be honest with him. But when they did explain it to him more, they did better than my parents. It was only my mother that did and she never told me the positive, I had to figure that out on my own, and she never gave me books about it to read. But she did give me pages printed from the internet for it when I kept asking her about it.

But I found it sad the father was bitter about it and found the positives all lies. I don't think they are lies. But then he gets better with it. And I was happy they didn't make it very stereotypical (judging only one episode).

Was the kid in the 1989 Parenthood meant to have AS. I kind of suspected it as well when I saw it but thought of it as a coincidence. Sometimes movies will make a character have quirks and they will happen to be aspie like.

The actor who potrays Max... is he an NT?

yes

Yeah, you have to watch further than just 10 minutes. Anyone who expects it to be a documentary on Asperger's Syndrome is going to be sorely disappointed. I don't think this is what the show is solely about.



That kid, Kevin Buckman... I remember there was a scene between Karen and Gil when they were behind the Chuck E Cheese looking through the trash for Kevin's retainer because he had a meltdown from misplacing it. In the scene, Karen is discussing how much stress Kevin is under and that they think there's something more to him. I forget what they said. Obviously, in 1989, it would not have been anything ASD at all. The punchline was that Gil was obsessive compulsively washing his hands while they were arguing about it, demonstrating that Kevin gets the behavior from him. So... yes and no.