The turning point came when I attended the course on "Understanding and Accommodating Sensory Needs in Autism" at the Autism Resource Centre. I asked the facilitator why would my child scream in the MRT and he asked me if J would scream throughout the whole train journey or at certain parts of the journey. That was a breakthrough question. J would only scream at certain parts of the journey. That was when I continued my detective work with the clues.
A few days later, we were at Big Box at Jurong East. The shop was playing an instrumental CD that has the violin playing in the background. J was at first in front of me and upon hearing the piece, ran towards me and hide himself. That was when I realised J disliked the high pitch of the violin. And I tried to relate this incident to the MRT.
And true enough, I found out when the screaming would take place - From Outram MRT to Tanjong Pagar MRT. I even hear the screeching part of the tunnel. Whoa! What a major discovery!
With a child on the ASD Spectrum, we are like detectives, searching for clues and making discoveries.
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| J finds the closing of cable car door too loud. |
From then on, I began to understand him better. And I realised how many more loud sounds he could not take - Blender, Toilet Flushing, Washing Machine and I believe as months go by, I would discover more. We have taught him to manage himself by covering his ears or to simply tell us "Too Loud" when he finds anything too loud, to go into the room if I am using the blender and to close the yard door if he finds the washing machine too loud.
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J finds the toilet flushing too loud
and he wants to get out of the cubicle. |
For a child on the Autism Spectrum Disorder who is sensitive to loud sounds, they may seem overly reacting because for a normal person like us, we are able to manage the sounds. Our body system is able to filter off certain sounds. So there could be times when I might not even hear the sound but to children like J, it could be amplified 100x. Thus, these are actually hurting their ears. And for them to manage themselves, they may choose to scream or sing songs, i.e. using their familiar voices, to cover the sound that cause pain to their ears. These are all part of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).
Just yesterday late afternoon, 25th September 2017, I encountered an incident from a lady at the toilet at One Raffles Quay North Tower.
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| The entrance to the toilet at One Raffles Quay North Tower. |
She was in the 2nd cubicle. I was in the 3rd cubicle. The flush was very fast and it was very loud. Thus causing J to have anxiety. He covered his ears and kept saying very loudly, "Too Loud! Too Loud". And then, he started to scream.
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| The lady was in the 2nd cubicle. I was in the 3rd cubicle. |
My thoughts:
* This is a young child. You can't expect a child to be quiet at all times.
* J already stated very loudly "Too Loud! Too Loud!". It should have occurred to the lady that this child might be facing some challenges, even if she does not understand anything about ASD or SPD.
Anyway, I replied the lady, "My child has sensory issues." And I hope she would bother to go and understand what sensory issues mean.
In conclusion, people are educated but yet, have no compassion to people around them. I do not expect her to understand anything about ASD or SPD but from all the words that J said in the cubicle beside her, surely anybody should be able to sense some challenges a mum is facing with her child and not merely, thinking that the child is creating havoc.
