I stand by my diagnosis of deafness. It explains why he doesn't react to sounds and voices, no matter how loud, and only to movement and direct lip-reading (he's had centuries to perfect it).
It's possible he's autistic as well, but I don't think so. A child who is born deaf or becomes deaf in infancy and who is raised with no sense of language will behave as Erestor does. This happened in times past because adults would equate deafness and blindness with retardation and wouldn't attempt to teach the child. Helen Keller, for example, was stricken deaf and blind at only months old, and she behaved in ways that were percieved as mentally or emotionally impaired; yet she proved to be as bright as any child, if not more so.
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Date: 2006-09-12 03:45 pm (UTC)It's possible he's autistic as well, but I don't think so. A child who is born deaf or becomes deaf in infancy and who is raised with no sense of language will behave as Erestor does. This happened in times past because adults would equate deafness and blindness with retardation and wouldn't attempt to teach the child. Helen Keller, for example, was stricken deaf and blind at only months old, and she behaved in ways that were percieved as mentally or emotionally impaired; yet she proved to be as bright as any child, if not more so.