I like sitting in the front seat of the car, watching the lamp-posts whooshing past, banging my book in time to the music. But when we got to Leeds Castle, the sky was so big and high above my head, and the noises and colours so bright that I wanted to stay in my purple chair.I put my fingers in my ears and leaned right over so that I could see the tiny pebbles in the path moving between my feet as Daddy pushed me along.
When we had our picnic the shiny silver tables were all gone, and there were wooden ones instead. I didn't like that at all and did my sad singing and couldn't eat my sandwich.
At the play area I felt safe so I got out of my purple chair. Mummy made me put my shoes and yellow vest on. There were so many children screaming, laughing, climbing, swinging, smiling. I ran up and down by the wooden fence, up and down, banging my pig book. The ground was crunchy beneath my feet and I did happy singing.When we got back to the car Daddy said "Zac, did you like Leeds Castle?", and I said I did not like Leeds Castle, and Daddy said "Good talking, Zac!". I watched the lamp-posts whooshing by and banged my book in time to the music, happy to go home.
Zac suffers from Sensory Processing Disorder, a common feature of Autism, which affects the way he interacts with and responds to the environment around him. Certain sights, sounds, tastes and textures can be a real challenge for Zac and seem to cause him pain, often to the point where he will drop to the ground and refuse to walk. He feels safe in his "purple chair".Zac puts his fingers in his ears to block out unwelcome sounds, and often expresses how he is feeling by singing in a major key when he is happy and a minor key when he is sad. Another example of his amazing brain!
Key:
WHITE text is me, "speaking" as Zac
GREEN text is direct quotes from Zac
GREY text is background commentary or explanation
Thanks for sharing your trip to leeds castle, even if Zac perhaps 'didnt like the castle' but hey great speaking!!
ReplyDeleteTwinkle has some severe sensory processing problems too. But she absolutly loves 'sniffing things'! She's sniffed hair from a young age and she now sniffs everything. Ive just started using aromatherapy with her.
My son is sensitive to sound and smell - in fact we use his bloodhound super powers if we suspect something doesn't smell right - he can tell us if there is even the slightest yukky smell around. Not so good when we go to the swimming pool and they've swished too much disinfectant around - too much for him to cope with.
ReplyDeleteFingers in the ears - every time at the cinema, but at least he can sit through a film now. We went to see Cordaline in 3D last week and he was fascinated by the 3D glasses, putting them up and down over his eyes through the whole film.