Amanda knocked at the
door, and a man in his fifties opened it.
“Mrs. Anderson, come
in,” he said, leading the way to a sparsely furnished room.
“Please have a seat,”
he said, sitting in a chair across from her.
“Would you be okay if I
took Emanuel into a separate room for examination?”
“Alone? I’m not sure,”
she said hesitantly.
“It will be only for a
couple of minutes,” he said reassuringly.
“Only for a few
minutes,” she said.
“I’ll be on the other
side of that door,” he said, pointing at an open door leading to another room.
Tony picked up Emanuel
in the carrier basket and closed the door as he entered the other room. A few
minutes later, he came out and placed the carrier on the floor.
Emanuel needs to watch
other children having fun.
He reached for a paper
on a shelf and remarked, "Expose Emanuel to a lot of children's TV
programs."
He handed her the paper
and added, "This is a list of the programs I recommend." “However,
never allow him to watch cartoons.”
“No cartoons?” she
questioned.
“They are too violent
for his condition,” he said flatly.
“What is wrong with
him?” she asked.
“He has a very rare
condition where he has to see how things work and how people interact. He is
incapable of initiating action on his own.”
“Will he be like that
all his life?” she asked, worried.
“He will be able to
adapt once he has learned the basic skills of interaction.”
Amanda looked at the list
of TV programs, then at Tony. “Will these help his development?”
“Yes, they will,
especially if you watch and interact with him.”
Amanda picked up the
carrier basket and left, still looking at the list in her hand.
At home, she put
Emanuel on the floor, turned on the TV, and scanned the guide to find a program
on the list.
After choosing one, she
observed Emanuel performing some of the tasks seen on television.
Amanda watched for a
few minutes, then went into the kitchen to clean it.
A few days later, Amanda
noticed Emanuel sitting up and imitating things he had seen on television.
She came into the TV
room and saw that the program had ended, and a yoga program was showing.
Before he visited with
Mr. Daniels, Emanuel was just learning to crawl. Now he was standing and doing
yoga.
When a beer commercial
came on, she changed the channel to another children's program.
This program focused on
children’s exercises, and he became fully involved in all the movements.