Arti (15) is talented and funny - but after suffering a brain injury, he lacks emotional control

Created: 05/22/2022, 09:10

By: Stefanie Salzmann

Doesn't fit into any category: 15-year-old Arti from Krauthausen suffered from a lack of oxygen when he was born and is mentally and emotionally impaired.

But Arti is also charming and talented.

© STEFANIE SALZMANN

Arti (15)'s brain was severely damaged due to lack of oxygen at birth.

About living with a charming, gifted child who lacks emotional control.

Krauthausen – When he was born, the 15-year-old Arti from Krauthausen suffered severe brain damage from a lack of oxygen.

He is charming, funny and mathematically gifted - but he lacks emotional control - a challenge for Artis' parents and especially for himself, as reported by hna.de.

If the handle of the coffee cup is not at the correct angle to the edge of the table, if the butter is on the wavy side of the crispbread instead of the one with the deep holes, Arti freaks out.

His parents also throw the 15-year-old into raging despair and a sea of ​​disappointment when they first take him to the hairdresser and then go shopping, although the order had previously been discussed in reverse.

Nothing is allowed to disturb the fixed framework and the breakpoints in Arti's life - then his living environment shakes and often collapses.

“He needs a solid structure, which he also demands.

If he doesn't get it, it will be difficult," says his father.

Arti (15) from Krauthausen: "It's a kind of childish narcissism"

That's why Arti is overly correct when it comes to data, figures and facts.

This does not affect his fertile imagination and wit.

About his younger brother, he claims that the octopus is called, his family is "related to foreigners" and also "cursed".

When Arti says such sentences, he doesn't flinch, maybe he looks challenging or giggles to himself, out of thieving joy at a new, successful absurdity.

Arti needs attention, almost all the time.

"It's a kind of childish narcissism," says the father.

"Arti tends to perceive other people as an extension of his own personality."

It's a kind of childlike narcissism," says the father.

"Arti tends to perceive other people as an extension of his own personality."

Mike WeihaarArti's father

During his birth, Arti suffers from a severe lack of oxygen, and amniotic fluid penetrates his lungs.

His parents - a physicist and a doctor - do not know if the newborn will survive the first night.

Arti succeeds but retains brain damage.

"We knew from day one that we were going to have difficulties," says his father.

Lack of oxygen at birth: Arti (15) has not yet been "diagnosed"

To date, the 15-year-old has not been "diagnosed completely", as it is called in medical jargon.

He has a tremor, epilepsy, reading is difficult, writing even more difficult, but he is mathematically gifted.

"I always try to get an F, but unfortunately I remember everything," says Arti, who is able to crack any password and who technically hardly anyone can fool.

Arti's linguistic and emotional abilities, on the other hand, are severely limited.

Since he was seven, Arti has lived in a boarding school at a special needs school for children with a wide variety of disabilities and abnormalities.

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Arti writes fairy tales that stick along with the classic set, but instead of the kidnapped princess, the old father is squatting in the dungeon and, thanks to his daughter and an ax that the guards didn't notice, he can free himself from his prison.

He dictates his stories into a writing program on his mobile phone and has his spoken stories converted into written words.

His story about the "Booger" was recently published as a children's book.

He mysteriously announces another work.

"It will be a surprise for the world," Arti says meaningfully.

He's had the story in his head for years - a tell-all story about his school.

He names people who Arti likes as those whom he "can't stand a little less".

He loves pop music from the 1980s, he hates English classes and likes Mondays as well as anything written by Tommy Krappweis - the author, comedian and inventor of the Kika character "Bernd das Brot".

Schools reject Arti (15): "Too exhausting and too intelligent"

Arti is a challenge for his parents and his family.

Although it was clear to the couple early on that Arti would be "different".

He later learns to speak. In a daycare center, an overwhelmed headmistress demands a certificate from his parents that epilepsy is not contagious.

No school wants to accept Arti after daycare: not capable of inclusion.

"He didn't fit into any category," says his father.

Among other things, the Paul Moor School declined because Arti was "too exhausting and too intelligent".

At some point, the parents come across the Karl Preising School in Bad Arolsen, where Arti lives and studies during the week.

But weekends and holidays are also a strain: "We really panicked about the weekends and tried to recover during the week so that we could get through it," says his father about the first few years.

"But we never gave Arti the feeling that he didn't belong." Meanwhile, like all teenagers, Arti prefers to have his peace and quiet at the weekend.

Arti (15) from Krauthausen: Children with brain damage are less able to internalize rules

But the family also has to swallow hostilities from outside.

On a bus trip, Arti gets bored and starts doing nonsense.

Then another mother says to Arti's father: "Your son is not disabled, he's brought up badly." Arti's father knows better and is certain: "Arti will one day be able to lead a self-determined life."

The most common cause of early childhood brain damage is a lack of oxygen before or during birth.

As a result, the nerve cells in all parts of the brain fail.

In early childhood development up to the third year of life, there are often no symptoms to be observed apart from delayed language development.

Significant behavioral problems usually occur in kindergarten age.

Unlike their peers, children with early childhood brain damage are less able to internalize rules and values.

The children show behavioral problems because they are overwhelmed with the social and intellectual demands of the kindergarten.

At school age, the behavioral problems increase, so that attending a regular primary school is often ruled out.

(Stefanie Salzman)

A man from Kassel copes with life after brain damage at birth with a special therapy.