Parenthood: Aspie Kid or Spoiled Brat?

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Thanks

Well now there is two aspies on the show as Hank(the camera store owner) thinks he has it and to be honest I wondered about him, he actually may be the more accurate depiction of Aspergers Syndrome. I find Max to be a little over dramatized, like they have added some very low functioning traits to the high functioning person they needed to make the role work for the TV show.

I never even guessed he had it. I just saw him as quirky and Max and him got along well. I am not so quick in labeling people. I think he is less affected by it than Max but it could be due to him being a lot older than him so he has had more life experience and learned more.

I've never watched that show, so I can't really say anything about the character.

i felt the same way when i first saw the show. i realized i was seeking a replication my own individualized experiences in a character who's main motive is educate viewers, as opposed to modeling a more nuanced autistic experience. max is very stereotyped. moreover, it's like the show didn't know how to portray asperger's deficits without them being egregiously over-amplified in every single scene. i think max comes off as bratty because he never shows consideration for others (which makes his parents lenience all the more obvious). struggling to understand other's perspectives has been transformed into an innate, all-consuming inability to do so at every conceivable moment. instead of providing a selected range of reactions that would maintain the authenticity of his diagnosis and still give him some depth as a character, he has no range at all (outside meltdowns, extreme egoism and rigidity). which to me, isn't all that realistic for any human being, whether on the spectrum or not.

i'd really like to see max develop more of his own story lines as an autistic person as opposed to being used as an educational plot device for parents/the general public.

Max often does come off as bratty for the various reasons cited here but for anyone who's watched the show for awhile you know there have been moments where he has shown understanding and empathy. Even though the character may be stereotypical at times, I've found myself identifying with his frustration when people or situations are irrational, when people don't do what they say they're going to do when they so say they're going to do it or when they outright lie to you. I can remember reacting like Max did a couple of times and getting punished for it. It was not possible to make the feelings go away in those situations but I learned not to express them.

In regards to other comments in this thread, I agree that you cannot spank autistic traits out of a kid. I got spanked many a time for social misbehaviors when I had no idea that I was doing anything wrong. It was a high anxiety childhood never knowing when my parents would suddenly become upset when I no idea I had done anything wrong.

I'm happy to see Hank introduced as an adult on the spectrum. His character seems fairly realistic to me because it's close to my own experience in some general ways.

I was spanked growing up and I responded just fine. Of course there was no Asperger's or Autism Spectrum or Misophonia back then either. But like Lepidoptera said above me, you definitely can't spank the Autism out of someone. But I certainly changed my bad behavior when I got spanked for it. Just because I am Aspie does not mean that I did not have bad behavior sometimes that needed to be disciplined out of me. Unfortunately I got disciplined for things that were Aspie or Misophonic traits sometimes. But back then no one had any way of knowing that that was what they were doing. So it was unfortunate and it did damage me in ways. But the times that I really deserved to be spanked, I really did deserve it.

I love Parenthood, it's my favorite show right now. I think that Max is definitely an example of a little bit spoiled Autistic kid. I love that they have brought in Hank as an Aspie because you can see a difference in him and Max. Hank is more like those of us who grew up Aspie when there was no Autism Spectrum. I am really glad they wrote that in. But it is a very wide spectrum so I am sure that there kids out there who are like Max. But he is a bit spoiled in my opinion.

It's possible for a kid to be both autistic and spoiled, you know.

What I wish my parents had done when I was little, was being more predictable. Like, I never knew what the rules were. They'd get mad at me seemingly at random and spank me or yell at me or (in my dad's case) hit me, and I'd have no idea what I'd done--or I'd have done something that wouldn't have been punished at other times, or done something I coudn't help doing or hadn't even known they'd dislike. I often didn't know what I was supposed to do, and sometimes when I did know, I couldn't do it. It was like trying to walk on quicksand.

Yeah, I see a lot of parents who make that mistake of not setting the rules straight up front and then not being consistent with the what the rules are. That is not good and all it does is confuse the kids and frustrate the parents.

I watched the show because I wanted to see how they portray autism. I have to say I was really disappointed that they make it look like he has no self-control and therefore can't be held responsible for his actions. Whenever he has a melt-down or tantrum, he gets his way. For example, when Amber was in the hospital, they were having donuts in the waiting room instead of the pancakes he wanted (It might not have been pancakes, I can't remember, but let's say it was). He flipped out. The next scene, he was home with Adam eating pancakes. If I did something like that as a kid, I'd probably be punished, and definitely wouldn't have gotten pancakes. Basic psychology tells us that if an action (tantrum) yields a desired result (pancakes), the action will be repeated.

I think the whole thing just reinforces stigma.

They would've really benefitted from having an autistic consultant on the show. The creator has an autistic son, and his viewpoint as a parent is valid, but I think the perspective of someone who actually is autistic would be helpful.