Marceau-Baptiste Lautrec

**Marceau-Baptiste Lautrec** is a patient in Tödlich Asylum. He suffers from autism and was put into the asylum by the request of his mother, even though his condition does not make it necessary for him to be admitted into a mental institution.

## Early Life

Marceau's autism was discovered at an early age, when he displayed symptoms of speech delay (alalia), lack of response when stimulated, and other behaviours commonly associated with the early signs of autism. According to his mother, Sophie, Marceau refused to interact with other children and had been excluding himself from any kind of social interaction before he even reached the age of five. Anger tantrums were also not unusual to Sophie.

Being a modern-day grisette, Sophie found Marceau's condition to be very demanding. She did not have the time to take care of Marceau who no longer had other living relatives with enough money and energy to take him in. When he reached the age of fifteen, Sophie called the social services department, who redirected her to Marceau's first asylum, the Asylum de Bicêtre in Paris, France. Here Marceau was treated by Dr. Raphael Saunière who later recommended him to Tödlich.

## Personality

Marceau is a normally quiet individual, but can be very violent when triggered. He is very punctual and shows extreme distaste towards tardiness. He will throw a violent tantrum when something goes out of schedule and unfortunately this happens fairly often. Often his tantrums result in physical injury, usually in the head. Marceau is also known for his aloofness. He rarely makes eye contact when speaking to another person, and seldom responds when called.

Marceau shows a great interest in painting. He is attracted to the colours brown and blue of any shade, and often carries a book of paintings that he never browses for more than an hour. His style of painting seems to be inspired by the works of Claude Monet, which is why most of his paintings seem to have the distinctive Impressionism brush strokes.

### Medication

Due to the patient's history of epilepsy, the patient must be given the following drugs at the following hours:

DEPAKENE - 7.30 AM & 2 PM

KEPPRA - 8.30 AM & 8 PM

### Nutrition

Patient is highly discouraged to ingest nutriments containing gluten and casein. Patient is encouraged to eat gluten-free and casein-free products in addition to organic substances.

### Daily Activities

5 AM - Morning routine; alarm goes off at 5 o'clock sharp.

Nurse's note: By 5.30 AM he must already be dressed & cleansed or don't let him see the time.

5.30 AM - Alone time

Nurse's note: When he says alone, he means /alone/. Do not enter until 6.

6 AM - Breakfast

6.15 - New canvas delivery

6.30 - Alone time (painting)

7.00 - Morning walk

7.30 - Depakene & alone time

Nurse's note: Leave as soon as you've given him the drug.

8.00 - Physiotherapy

8.30 - Keppra - physiotherapy

10.00 - Alone time (painting)

10.30 - Speech therapy

12.00 - Lunch time

13.00 - Alone time (painting)

14.00 - Depakene & check up (if any)

14.45 - TV time

15.15 - Alone time

16.30 - Library session

17.15 - Evening walk

18.00 - Alone time (painting)

19.30 - Dinner

20.00 - Keppra & alone time (painting)

21.00 - Bed time.

## Note on Pronunciation

His name is pronounced mahr-SO bah-TEEST (silent ‘p’) LOW-tray-kuh.

## Note from the Author

I am not a psychiatrist nor do I have the desire to be one. What I have written above is based on personal experience and additional research. Depakene and Keppra are both real medications prescribed for epilepsy, and the symptoms described above are what my autistic sibling displays often. I have met enough autistic children to know that the symptoms differ from one another. I also know that autistic children are not put in mental institutions simply by being autistic, it's usually by court order that they are put in there, and this kind of court order is only received if the said child has committed a crime and/or substance abuse. In Marceau's story, as his mother is unable to take care of him, she contacted the social services who redirected her to Marceau's first asylum. At the age of 15 he was transferred to Tödlich, because his doctor thinks he would be better off there.