How Disney Pixar “Luca” helped my son with Autism
Disney Pixar’s latest movie, Luca, is a marvelous story of the “best summer ever” for a trio of charming underdogs, two sea monsters and a human girl. By winning a triathlon with some poetry licenses, they create an unlikely bond, defy the town bully, and become champions of diversity and inclusion.
My two children, Alexander (8) and James (6) cannot stop watching it. We have watched the movie already at least 30 times (on average twice a day since its release mid-June), we know all the Italian phrases in it and we cherish and laugh at every single moment, quirky or not. As a family with autism, we understand quirkiness, being the underdogs, feeling different and unaccepted.
I was born in Italy. My husband and I met on the Italian riviera, where the movie Luca is set. We fell in love with each other, probably partially thanks to the amazing backdrop of the Riviera, so spectacularly pictured in the movie. We moved to California almost ten years ago. Every year we leave California to go back to Italy, to see the grandparents, and we try to go back to the Riviera, where between Camogli and Cinqueterre, my kids’ summer memories were made. In Luca, the adventures of the two boys, riding the iconic Vespa on the same Riviera, enjoying gelato and passeggiata after gulping pasta dinners felt so close to home.
When Alex was born, I wanted my son to grow up with the language of love and food, I only spoke Italian to Alex for the first two years of his life. A little over two years of age, Alex was diagnosed with a severe form of autism[1].
Alex was completely non-verbal. For this reason, speech therapists recommended me to stop speaking Italian to him, in order not to confuse him. So I did that. I will spare here how tremendously difficult was the battle to get him to speak — this is perhaps another story — but we were lucky enough to get from a completely non-verbal child to one who is now able to speak somehow appropriately for his age. Alex, however, does not understand nor speak any Italian. I had to give that up to get my child to speak, which was a small price to pay given where we started. Since I stopped speaking Italian to him, I have always felt a little sad that he does not understand my language.
The Disney Pixar Luca changed all that in a little less than two hours. After watching Luca, Alex — who listened to me speaking exclusively in Italian for the first two years of his life — started repeating all the Italian expressions in the movie with almost no accent. “Mom, what does “mannaggia” mean?” , and I find myself quoting another great Disney character: “mannaggia” means “darn it”, remember Olaf in Olaf Frozen Adventures? “Mom, what does “Andiamo” mean? “Andiamo means “Let’s go”.. Suddenly, a flood of questions on Italian language came rushing in, as if the language has always been somewhere hidden in Alex’s brain. It was glorious. I thought that must have been a possibility, and I was secretly hoping for it, but I did not dare believe it. The movie Luca woke up all the Italian summers and all the language retained during the first two years of his life, like a charm.
Alex was trained in ABA (Advanced Behavioral Analysis), and we were fortunate enough to also use PRT (Pivotal Response Training), a more naturalistic approach to ABA, where the pivot is a strong interest that triggers a response. Disney Pixar “Luca” has served as the strong pivot for Alex to start speaking Italian. Not only we are going one by one through all the Italian expressions in the movie[2]. Alex is also asking me to translate expressions like “jump on” that he would hear in the movie. We are now speaking more and more Italian at home, we linger a little longer on the funny expressions like “che puzza”, (“it stinks”).. said by the old lady on the balcony when Ercole shows up in town with the Vespa. My kids burst out laughing at this expression every time. This is the true organic, fun learning, without pressure.. this is the best way to learn, this is what I wanted for them all along..
The movie is also littered with Italian pop culture songs, like my favorite “Il Gatto e la Volpe” by Edoardo Bennato, who also wrote songs about Neverland and others inspired by Disney’s movies. “Il Gatto e la Volpe” is featured as upbeat background music while Luca and Alberto build their home-made Vespa; it is a fun catchy song, recounting the sales pitch that the Fox and the Cat give Pinocchio, in the famous fable, when they meet him, to convince him to sign up with them as impresarios. The catchy tune quickly became my kids’ favorite. Currently, we are singing this song out loud in Italian, and this is the subject for the next organic lesson for my kids. They are happily speaking and singing bits and pieces of Italian, and I hope this will continue to be a successful learning the language experience.
This is what Disney’s Luca did for us: the movie not only woke up the Italian language in my children, but also the Italian memories and the fun bits that are part of their childhood forever. For that I will be forever grateful to its creators.
Luca has helped my family in so many ways. I hope that the language developments translate also in an improvement in sensory issues. Before he was two, Alex used to eat pasta with his hands, just like Luca and Alberto when they first try the delicious dish. Then, in correspondence with the onset of the autism and the increase in sensory issues, he lost appetite for pasta and has not touched it since. I am tempted to put on loop the scene were Alberto and Luca scoff down the “trenette al pesto” to trigger an improvement. I might just do it, and I will keep you posted.
Luca is a celebration of acceptance, diversity, and disability, featuring a strong respected man with limb difference, two children with a different skin color (and texture) and possible LGBTQ+ relationships. I applaud Disney and Pixar for creating such an inclusive magnificent movie and I am looking forward to the next masterpiece.
“Luca” embraces disabilities, diversity, and differences on all levels, creating a story where all come together in harmony. The best phrase in the movie: “Some people, they’ll never accept him. But some will. And he seems to know how to find the good ones”. That really is all that matters.
[1] The more detailed story is here. https://barbarann.medium.com/autism-awareness-the-importance-of-early-intervention-4e7f6afc80f1
[2] https://dailyitalianwords.com/italian-quotes-from-the-disney-pixar-movie-luca-2021/
