A Day in the Life of......

one of the performances at our local Ironfest,
fun events and lots of noise although A.J. still enjoyed the day

It's been a long hard journey, we can all agree to that, trying to help our not-so-little man address every part of his diagnosis and overcome each obstacle and complication as he faces them, while also helping him to manage every setback.

So when he reaches each new milestone, we all instinctively understand the need to acknowledge it.

No matter how minimal or insignificant others may view each single step and achievement, to us they are all worth celebrating.

Those 'simple' accomplishments may have been the reward for months and months of therapy and specialised assistance, as well as repetitive learning and training programs.

So when A.J. decides to take the leap-of-faith into the unknown world outside his safety realm it is definitely something to recognise and honour.

Last weekend was one of those such occasions, as he not only chose to step outside into the noisy hustle and bustle of outdoor life, he chose to attend an event that will react with his sensory dysregulation in the most extreme of effects.

...... by attending our local 'Ironfest' activities.

This being a big annual event on our local calendar, where people come from near and far to watch a weekend's worth of activities, market stalls, and so much more, involving Medieval and World War reenactments, as well as many other noise-effective events and activities.

Although very rare, whenever planning to attempt such events in the past, we would attend during the most likely quiet period, with minimal noise activity, quickly finding the best placed area to view whatever we were attending, while also preparing for the quickest and easiest retreat plan, knowing we're lucky to achieve a maximum of 1 or 2 hour or minimum of half hour limit, on a good day.

With this event we were given two passes so A.J. and Pop chose to go, as the events were more to their liking.

We considered the daily events schedule for the best time to attend, although they couldn't decide which they preferred to view more, so agreed to see them all.....

A big ask, I thought.

Anyway off they went at 10am, with the last of events, and day ending, to finish off about 4pm.

I had no idea how they would go or when they would return.

For the first time ever A.J. was also going with an open slate, not schedule as such planned, no pre-organised hourly set-out of events, not even knowing when or what he'll be having for meal breaks, just... 'winging it'.

This has NEVER happened.

As the day went on I became more and more surprised, expecting any minute to hear the door open and they enter, yet another minute and hour passed with silence.  It wasn't until 4pm they finally walked through the door with A.J. chatting and chanting along repeating word for word everything they had viewed encountered and experienced.

He was still in hyper mood reviewing the day's events again and again when I tried to settle him down into his night-time routine.

Any other child after experiencing such a full-on day would easily be tired and worn out, settling quickly and falling to sleep, although A.J. was still unsettled and pacing around after 10pm, something that we have come to expect whenever facing an out-of-routine day.

The following day again showed the after-math of such an out-of-routine event, with his sensory processing totally out-of-wack resulting in a meltdown of emotions and a totally wasted day.

Knowing these reactions may occur we can take measures to handle and cope with them, although in the outside world, at school, and other places, he will face criticism and judgement and condemnation for his 'at present' behaviour due to others not knowing, understanding, or accepting the chain-of-events that would still be causing his current reactions and behaviour.

Sharing knowledge, educating teachers and other officials, are all paramount to a better understanding of skills for coping with these situations. Therefore educating students and others about how to accept and involve all ASD kids within the school community is the only way these kids have a chance to integrate into society as capable confident adults.

Helping others to help themselves.