I agree with dolphin, he took his defeat very well, and seemed a nice kid so good on him

http://seriesandtv.com/you-tube-vide...ent-semifinal/

Interesting !

He suffers from a mild form of Autism which explains his amazing memory apparantly.

I didn't think he was that bad!!

He quite obviously enjoyed performing his routine and I can certainly see him making it in showbiz when he's older.

I didn't know he was autistic.
I have mild Aspergers/AS traits too and have been told I have a very good memory and stuff

No way! Street dancing is the best form of dancing there is. Not rigid like all the ballroom styles.

i liked callum. it's all about being able to have fun and give an enjoyable performance at the same time

He was clearly enjoying himself so I won't hold that against his performance And truth be told it can't be easy to sing and dance at the same time and be in character.

Same here MINUS the good memory !!

i thought he was great and would have preferred him to go through as his act was very watchable. Also well done to him for not crying when he lost like the other losers!!!

I didnt know about his condition, good on the producers for not really milking it. I don't like to "wear my (dis?)ability on my sleeve" either. I just think I'm a normal person TBH (easy to do as the condition is invisible).

Trouble is - there are thousands of kids out there, whether stage school trained or not, who are equally or much more talented than Callum.

The whole problem for Callum is that he's been lauded by the judges as being something really special, and unfortunately he's simply not mature enough to deal with that kind of praise from people who are "meant" to know what they are talking about.

I think that Piers suggesting that he will be the lead in a West End musical in years to come is totally out of order. Maybe he will, but on the other hand - he's entering an incredibly competitive business, and it's not simply about being 'cute', having a big smile and being able to sing and dance and not bump into the furniture (or the guy in the bear costume...) at the same time. It's also about luck, being in the right place, being the right shape, height etc etc. and having a huge amount of talent. Piers could say the same thing to thousands of other good kid performers - and they are certainly not all going to get the lead roles in big musicals. Some may well get roles in the chorus in the West End or as another poster said they will be performing in small venues in pantomime, or not at all.

So - Piers' kind of comment just leads to the child believing they have the ability and talent to reach the dizzy heights, it also gives the parents an unrealistic dream for their child's future. So - if it doesn't come to fruition (which is a more likely scenario), it leads to constant disappointment and a sense of failure. I would hazard a guess that unless Callum does find some big level of success (which IMHO is doubtful), by the time he is 25, he'll be still desperately trawling round auditions, still convinced that he should be a "star" because a panel of judges led him to believe it was his destiny. He may well feel that he has failed his parents and everyone round him.

I've seen it happen, and it's sad.

Good post and I wholeheartedly agree. If he has some certain type of autism, I wonder if this could affect his chances as well.

Bravo Jeanie. An excellent post and it should apply to all children on these shows.....................and especially their parents.

What, other than his mum saying it?

Doesn't/didn't he go to a special school ??

I just went to normal schools/college when I was growing up.

There was just something that sat uncomfortable with me on the whole performance. I cringed all the way through and shed alot of skin by the end of it.

Not as far as we have been told. Mother said he was at mainstream school, but had trouble "concentrating" (which could be interpreted in different ways - )

Parents send him (and his sister) to Sylvia Young Theatre School which is an independent fee paying stage school.

Found this from the BBC health site on autism -

What are the symptoms?
The main three symptoms are:

Difficulties with social interaction - being unaware of what's socially appropriate, finding chatting or small talk difficult and not socialising much (people with autism find it very difficult to develop friendships and relate to others)
Problems with verbal and non-verbal communication - understanding gestures, body language, facial expressions and tone of voice, making it difficult to empathise with people's feelings
Imagination impairments - such as not enjoying or taking part in role-play games

Friend of mine has a 14 year old son who is diagnosed as autistic. He's always been to mainstream school - he gets on just fine.

I enjoyed his performance very much and prefered him to grand dad and grand daughter

From the little I've seen of him, none of those apply to him.

Autism can range from mild symptoms which allow a person to attend mainstream school, hold down a job afterwards, dance, sing and do just about anything they want.

At the other end of the scale it can cause symptoms like total inability to as much as look at another person, let alone speak to them or even smile; inability to keep still, having no control over arms or legs; thrashing about on the floor, hitting head against the wall, enough to cause real harm ..... and more.

I wouldn't have guessed he was autistic either. I can identify with some or all of those symptoms myself though Or should that be ? I have trouble with friendships/relationships too. But I think the symptoms I have are mild.

Yeah it affects different people in different ways. I think that Callum is full time at SY which makes him more stage school than Shaheen who is at the local comp and only goes to stage school on saturday mornings...

Like I said, it affects different people in different ways - to an extent, it seems to be pretty common in the arts. They reckon Mozart was autistic don't they?