62 Autistic Disorder
Name: Arnie Grape
Source: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (movie, 1993)
Background Information
Arnie Grape is a Caucasian male who is 17 years old and is close to turning 18. He does not go to school and spends most of his time with his older brother, Gilbert. Arnie appears to be mentally disabled or developmentally disabled. When Arnie was born, the doctor said he would be lucky if he lived to the age of 10 and when he turned 10, the doctor said he could die at anytime. He has repetitive speech, which it seems as if he is listening but then turns around, and does the same things over again. He engages in very dangerous behaviors but is not aware of how dangerous his behaviors are. For example, he climbed up the water tower in the town and was dangling off the side of the ladder laughing the entire time not knowing how serious the situation was. Arnie lives with his mother, brother, and two sisters. He is very close to his older brother because Gilbert takes care of him. His mother, Bonnie, who has not left the house in seven years, became morbidly obese and depressed when her husband committed suicide. His two sisters, Amy and Ellen, take care of the chores and do all the cooking. Arnie is very friendly to other children in his town but it does not appear that he has very many friends because they do not understand his ways of communication, although there were many children at his eighteenth birthday party. There is an instance when Arnie will not go into the basement because he said “dad is down there” and then he does a hanging motion. Arnie does not appear to take any medication or see a regular physician or psychologist. His feelings are easily hurt because he does not fully understand what people are saying to him. Arnie does not appear to have any goals other than trying to survive.
Description of the Problem
Arnie kills a grasshopper by cutting its head off in the mailbox and a little while after he kills it he gets very upset at himself and is sad that the grasshopper died. He has certain hand movements that he constantly does. He puts his hand to his mouth a certain way when he is in an uncomfortable situation. He has eye twitches and he blinks quite often. Arnie is always running off and hiding from Gilbert or climbing the water tower. Gilbert knows where Arnie is hiding but plays a game and pretends that he does not know Arnie is up in the tree and he thinks Gilbert has no idea where he is. When other people get hurt or when Arnie says mean things to others he thinks that it is very funny and usually laughs hysterically. He is arrested for climbing the water tower and when they put him in the cop car, all he is worried about is the cops turning on the lights and sirens. He is not able to take care of himself. For example, Gilbert puts Arnie in the bath and tells him that he is a big boy and can wash himself. Gilbert leaves and comes back the next morning to find Arnie still in the bathtub. Arnie repeats everything t