A happy moment can bloom more quickly than expected from the seeds of hope. In my gut, I felt like Arrowhead was the place we needed to do our crowd work with Tony on March 31st. I noticed as we were pulling in that the Funbox park was up and functional, and I told Andy “maybe Tony will be up to walking around the perimeter when we’re done in the mall.”
As we were leaving the work we were doing in the mall, I walked us towards the bounce park. I noticed that Tony wasn’t afraid, and a look of interest was on his face. I walked us up to the entrance, and he still didn’t look afraid. I asked him if he wanted to go in, and he said “yes” on his speech device.
He appropriately tolerated the wait to sign all of the waivers. He tolerated having to wear new to him socks that were slightly tight to be allowed on the bounce structures. He tolerated speakers blasting songs such as “Boom Clap” and “Shut Up and Dance” the entire visit without any signs of distress. He tolerated a gradually increasing crowd of noisy kids and adults, and his behavior was 100% safe.
We laughed and we climbed for about an hour- which is tolerance higher than anything I expected to see when he said he wanted to go in. We slid down bounce slides higher and steeper than slides he’s willing to use at our local neighborhood parks. His happiness lit a spark of joy in my soul, it was such a beautiful and happy moment that I hadn’t done more than hope would bloom and come to successful fruition on a “some day” when we drove up to the mall that day. But for that moment, it was the day and the joy.
Additional Therapy Strategies Being Used:
Within the mall itself:
-using the family bathrooms can help him feel more comfortable using a restroom where there are lots of people and hand dryers present.
-Trying to find a motivating activity, such as eating a very preferred food, can help him associate the environment with positive things.
-He needs to be allowed to refuse to go into anywhere in an environment with that many people to prevent him feeling like he needs to be scared enough to push.
For the Funbox Bounce Park:
-Walking around the perimeter can create a familiarity with the structure
-Bounce houses at quieter events are preferred activities for him, so sometimes preferred activities can be leveraged to increase tolerance of other stimuli that he struggles with under different circumstances.
-Sometimes entering near the opening time for a place that can become crowded helps (for a place where there are fewer people there at first) because the crowd builds around him gradually.
-Leaving while he was still happy. For a kiddo with sensory issues, leaving while they are still calm and well-regulated is the best approach because it assures that the memories of the activity and location will be happy ones. If not every moment stayed happy, trying to leave on the happiest, calmest moment possible can still keep / leave a positive final impression of a location.
