When a Good Day Turns Bad

I think all of us with autistic children can agree that a good day can turn bad in a split second. No matter how much we try to prepare, no matter how much we try to structure our child's day into something they can deal with, the truth is we can't control the world, and when you have a child with sensory issues, it truly is a big bad world out there. It often seems like no matter where we go, there is some horrible noise that Dylan can't tolerate. I had an appointment at the DMV last year to get an identification card for Dylan, so that we could get a handicapped parking pass for him, and they were drilling at the DMV, doing remodeling or something. What are the odds? As though the DMV isn't bad enough!!! On every vacation, we seem to encounter a maid vacuuming in our hotel every time we attempt to walk down the hall, or the carpet cleaner, or we go to use the resort pool and someone has an electric hedge trimmer, you get the picture.

Dylan was in a fantastic mood this morning, but as we crossed the street to go to school, a man on a riding lawnmower was just about blocking our path, with no alternative route. I always find myself thinking all sorts of nasty thoughts directed toward these people (why do they have to mow while everyone is coming to school, don't they know some people can't tolerate that noise, how rude to be mowing right by where we are walking) when, in reality, I know this is just a person doing their job and 10 years ago I would have made my way around him and not given it a second thought.

So now we have a good day turned bad. Dylan doesn't cry over sounds anymore, but he becomes quiet and retreats into his own world. When we got to his classroom he walked in and put his headphones on before he even hung up his backpack in the outside hallway. At least he had a plan, I thought to myself. I explained to his teacher that we passed the lawnmower guy on the way in, and she nodded understandingly. It might be a rough morning.

Here is something we have stumbled upon that helps Dylan cope with his sensory issues. Dylan and I love to make up stories about characters that are fearful of certain noises. Once we make up a story we tell it over and over to each other and add a bit more each time around.

I'll talk more about our stories another blog post, but I wanted to share with you one he wrote the other day about a little boy named John, who thinks he sees an elephant in his backyard (where there is an elephant, there is a usually trumpeting elephant sound).

Wishing you all a peaceful quiet day!!!