1. Background Notes for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Autism
Background Notes for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

2. What is Autism? Characterized by certain patterns of behavior:
social impairments
communication difficulties
restricted actions

3. What is Autism?
As early as infancy, a child with autism may display impaired social interaction. He or she may be unresponsive to others or focus intently on one object for an abnormal amount of time.

4. What is Autism?
Children with autism may fail to respond to their names and avoid eye contact with others.
Those with autism have difficulty interpreting what others think and feel because they have difficulty understanding social cues such as tone of voice and facial expressions.

5. Narrator of Curious
The narrator of the book is Christopher Boone, a 15 year-old boy with an undisclosed disorder.
Although never stated, Christopher appears to be a highly functioning autistic person.
Christopher also appears to have the qualities of a “savant.”

6. Asperger syndrome
Christopher may have this form of autism because displays many of the characteristics:
He is advanced in areas of language and other intellectual abilities
He is physically clumsy and socially awkward