Meltdown Averted!

My princess(she wasn’t a pirate today) and firefighter have some special sensory needs. One of them being, they can’t be in huge, loud groups of people.  It over stimulates them and they go crazy.  It doesn’t take an hour or two, it can take as little as 5 minutes for them to lose it and not be able to get their senses back under control.  Because of this, we don’t do much inside where I know it will be loud.  This is a problem at times because there are some really fun activities to do inside.  One of those is the children’s science museum here. It is an amazing place that changes it exhibits constantly so there is always something new but they also keep certain things.  Like the water table.  This is the coolest water table I have seen.  My kids can spend 2 hrs just playing in the water.  They come out smelling like chlorine but for some reason, the water helps them regulate their senses and the noise of the room doesn’t seem to bother them.

Today as the last free day of the month to go until next September.  I decided last night that it would be fun to go, even if we only lasted 30 mins. They needed to see other kids and I needed to talk to other adults.  I was starting to forget how to speak in complete sentences again. The building was packed.  It seems every mom had the same idea I did.  With in 5 minutes of getting there my fire fighter started to lose it.  He is old enough that he can tell when things are going wrong and will tell me.  He asked if he could go to the water table.  I hesitated because there were kids all over and it was crowded.  I looked at him and hesitated.  I knew it was what he needed but at the same time I wondered if it would really help this time with all the noise.  We walked over to the table and both kids jumped right in.  I was amazed at how instantly it seemed to calm them.  They were still apprehensive and jumped at the loud noises but there wasn’t any crying, no screaming, no falling on the floor, no shaking, nothing but smiles and giggles.

They played there for an hour.  By that time the crowd had thinned out and we had found a couple friends we knew.  The kids decided that they were ready to move on and explore the other areas of the museum.  We played there for 2 hrs before my kids were ready to eat.

 

I am amazed daily by my kids and their senses.  I am amazed at how they are learning to, not control, but manage them.  Learning to spot the signs of losing control and asking for help, or just doing what they know works.  Today it was a water table.  Tomorrow, most likely, will be the big dirt pile in our back yard.