This month our Featured Author, Rupert Isaacson, answers questions from the Reading Group at the Sir William Borlase's Grammar School in Buckinghamshire.
Q: How has Rowan progressed since the book was written?
A:The dysfunctions that Rowan suffered from pre Mongolia (tantrumming, incontinence, inability to make friends) are, amazingly, a memory.
Rowan is still autistic but is now so functional within his autism that it can be hard to tell that he is on the spectrum. He is two grades ahead academically, has a wide social circle and is happy boy leading a full life. He wasn't cured but his dysfunctions were healed.
Q: How do you and Kristin now feel about the conventional help that was offered to you?
A:We never abandoned western or conventional therapies. In fact we still pursue them. For example, Rowan still has behavioural therapy and we are looking at the possibility of B12 injections. At the same time, we visit shamans every year and incorporate many hours of riding and nature in his academic curriculum. It's about using every tool in the toolbox.
Q: What are your plans for future travel and for writing about it?
A:Ghost, the shaman of the reindeer people, told us that we should do at least one good shamanic ceremony every year - it didn't matter where. So we've taken his advice. Last year we were in Namibia, where I know the healers personally. This past summer we were with an aboriginal shaman in Australia. And this coming year we'll be in native America and northern Scandinavia. Those stories will be told in the next book.
Q: Do you plan to branch into fiction at any time?
A:Good question! The answer is yes. Currently working on a historical fiction/ fantasy project that is both a novel and a film script. Pure fun and entertainment. Watch this space!
Q: (Assuming that you are still living in America) Is there any equivalent of Riding for the Disabled in the US?
A:Yes there is. It’s called NAHRA. Sadly, unlike the British RDA which has been very supportive of The Horse Boy and the camps we are now running here and in the US, NAHRA feels that we are too outside the box. However, local therapeutic riding centres in the US have been very supportive.
Q: You write about shamanic healing in the steppes and in Africa but what about Native Americans?
A:That's what this coming summer's journey will be all about: the shamanic traditions of native America and northern Europe.
