Eddie Mason (Please Don't Say Hello)
| Nobody is just like Eddie. All autistic children are different from each other just as all of you are not exactly the same. | |
| — Liz, Eddie's older sister[1] |
| |
|---|---|
| Portrayed by | Russell Davis |
| Appears in | Please Don't Say Hello |
| Year | 1975 |
Eddie Mason is a main character in the educational middle grade novel Please Don't Say Hello.
Character creation
Author Phyllis is a psychotherapist and mother to an autistic son.[2] She founded the Metropolitan New York chapters of the National Society for Autistic Children (NSAC, which now operates under the name Autism Society of America).[3] She also held a variety of officer and board positions in the NSAC[4][5]
The character of Eddie is portrayed by Russell Davis, a professional child model.[6]
Summary
At the start of summer, 9-year-old Eddie and his family (mother, father, brother Paul and sister Lizbeth) move into a new neighborhood. The neighborhood children (Billy, Charlie, Jimmy, and Alan) are first somewhat hostile towards Eddie, which then switches to intrigue as they learn more about him.
One evening, Eddie starts playing with a basketball, but when the other children join in, he throws the ball into the woods behind their house. Bill's parents forbid him from playing at the Mason's house because they think Eddie is crazy. This prompts Mrs. Mason to educate the children and their parents about Eddie and autism. They try to play with Eddie, but he keeps throwing the ball into the woods or saying "Don't say hello." The children then gradually stop playing with Eddie, which makes him feel sad.
He starts attending a boarding school for autistic children, and the neighborhood children quickly starting thinking less about him. Next June, Mrs. Mason invited them to go pick up Eddie at his school. At the school, they meet different autistic children, they watch a teacher use ABA to teach an autistic girl to look people in the eyes.
Eddie comes back home for the summer, and the neighborhood children remark the ways in which he's changed, and what has stayed the same.
Appearance
Eddie is described has having "golden blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and glowing smooth skin." He is also described as "very good-looking".
Autism
Eddie stims in a variety of ways: spinning coins around, spinning himself around, hand flapping.
He doesn't speak a lot. He does often make moaning sounds, which are rendered as "Ehhhhhhhh, ehhhhhhhh." His voice is flat and hollow. He also displays pronoun reversal.
He tends to look away from people, look at people as though they weren't there, or look off into space. His mother describes him as being in a world of his own.
Eddie gets upset by changes in his routine. For example, he always has a double raspberry-flavored popsicle from the ice cream truck. When the ice cream truck runs out and he instead gets a single popsicle, he becomes very upset.
He also displays a variety of talents: he is able to name all countries and their capitals, and rapidly solve a 500-piece puzzle face-down. He loves machines, and draws pictures of robots and computers.
References
- ↑ Please Don't Say Hello, chapter: Explaining Autism
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/16/nyregion/l-interns-suggested-as-class-aides-145144.html
- ↑ Please Don't Say Hello cover
- ↑ https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED052581.pdf
- ↑ http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED085926.pdf
- ↑ Please Don't Say Hello, colophon
External links
- Please Don't Say Hello on Goodreads