"AUTISM from a Different Perspective – Cesare's Successful Story." - by Giovanni Tommasini & Maria Teresa De Donato - Review by Valeria Gatti

 "AUTISM from a Different Perspective – Cesare's Successful Story."

by Giovanni Tommasini & Maria Teresa De Donato

Review by Valeria Gatti

 

 

"- Go ahead to Cesare's; we'll prepare and order three pizzas."

 

A blank wall his symphony orchestra. The conductor's baton is in the right hand. Every now and then, he interrupted the direction to scold "those" who did not follow him severely. I sat behind him on his bed and watched him. This beautiful child…"

 

Howard Gardner - American psychologist and professor, father of the theory of multiple intelligences - argues that no two individuals can count on the same intelligence composition. Every man is unique, and his fiber comprises a set of unrepeatable factors. Again Gardner says that one of the first talents to emerge in Man is the musical one: let's think of the heartbeat, for example, a rhythm that we never voluntarily listen to but which is within us, indispensable to our existence.

Therefore, music is a primordial element of considerable importance in scientific, psychological, and anthropological studies.

Music is the theme I chose to tell you about in the book "AUTISM from a Different Perspective - Cesare's Successful Story" by Giovanni Tommasini & Maria Teresa De Donato.

It was the words of the authors that convinced me.

We are already inside the narration when Maria Teresa writes:

 

"It shouldn't surprise us, therefore, if music, as well as other forms of art, while not curing diseases per se, can be used, and should be used to a greater extent, for therapeutic purposes as it promotes a feeling of well-being and facilitates recovery in terms of health."

The quote is preceded and followed by a series of authoritative publications that the author has studied, analyzed, and reported to support her claims.

 

Giovanni, on the other hand, states that "many people affected by this terrible pathology are attracted by everything that has already been surely ‘saved’.... like numbers, dates, road maps, mechanical machines that can be turned on and off without emotional effort… music, the perfect mathematical-emotional link."

 

With music, therefore, life can be seen from a different perspective: intense, lively, exciting, and unique. Not only. A solid habitual component benefits and saves, amplifies sensations and experiences, that brings people together. Also, and above all, the people who have to learn to know each other, to respect and trust each other.

That's precisely what happens to Giovanni, a young "foreigner" majoring in Political Science at the University of Genoa, when he accepts the educator job. The "case" to follow is Cesare, an autistic child. A relationship begins between the two made of silences caused by two apparently distant languages, looks, fears, and suspicions. This relationship resembles a ladder, long and impervious: one step at a time, to be climbed with difficulty, but directed towards trust, respect, understanding, bonding, and friendship. Giovanni does not write a novel or a story. His expressive style is composed of many thoughts linked to each other, devoid of frills and full of short sentences. In some passages, it was like reading a poem born out of pain but aimed at hope and the importance of giving and receiving. The protagonist is Cesare, of course, and as a reader, you can't help but feel the emotion that Giovanni lets resurface when he talks about his doubts, when he collides with whims and silences, or when he tries to adapt the weight of his childhood memories to the present. Feel her emotions when he senses the concerns of a mother who can't see a peaceful future for her child and when the helping relationship becomes an overwhelming and unexpected emotional exchange. And then, there are amusing and moving passages: I thought I saw them, him in front and Cesare behind, on board the Vespa, darting through the streets of Genoa, or when they go looking for a seaside bar to eat the usual sandwich and celebrate life. A life that must be loved, created, and defended because it is always worth living.

Maria Teresa's voice is like an anchor: she intervenes to explain and expand the meanings. We know of her ability to translate scientific concepts - not widely disseminated and often complex - into simple sentences. Her ability perfectly aligns with Giovanni's expressive narration in this work. Her analytical and expert pen asks questions, proposes thesis answers, cites studies, and adds scientific, philosophical, holistic, and emotional suggestions.

The literary work resembles a piece of music in which the two voices harmoniously join each other and express the same notes while maintaining their uniqueness.

I reserve the last observation for Giovanni's quotation, which is the most representative of the entire work due to its strength, intensity, and courage.

 

"And so he started living me."