He states that he does not want to live without Autism because this is the world he knows and how he has learned to live. Naoki takes longer than most to respond to a request because he must think about what he is going to do, visualize how he is going to do it and encourage himself to get going. Often those with Autism respond aggressively when a memory triggers another memory of a time they had a bad experience. It may take him longer to retrieve certain memories or they may be related to seemingly unrelated memories because of how they are stored. Naoki describes his experiences and memories as primarily visual and not occurring in a sequential order like most others.

He does not like holding hands because he often sees something that interests him and wants “to dash off”.

If Naoki looks at people’s faces, he will get distracted but many people think this is impolite. Naoki says he does not make eye contact when others are talking not because he is not listening, rather because he is trying to listen to what the person is saying and focusing all of his concentration on their words. He is extremely disappointed when others are upset with him because he does not want to let anyone down but often cannot help the way he acts. He knows what he wants to do or what he wants to say but very often something different happens over which he has no control. Naoki explains that he often does not have control over his voluntary movements or what comes out of his mouth. Naoki describes his daily struggles and coping mechanisms for living with autism. While some of the information may be particular to Naoki (given that Autism is a spectrum disorder, the recommendations may not apply to all Autistic individuals), many of his comments can help readers’ better understand all people with autism. The book is a series of questions to which Naoki responds with the intent of helping people better understand what happens in the mind of an autistic child. The Reason I Jump is written by Naoki Higashida a thirteen- year-old boy living with autism.

The reason i jump by naoki higashida