We had our first holiday get together this past weekend. And Oh My, it was a mad house. With 21 people including 3 children, it got very hectic and crazy. Poor Mia had people calling her name non-stop, and she had no idea which way to go.
Mia, as you know, is visually impaired and uses her hearing and other senses to get around and find people. With 5 people at a time yelling, “Mia come here.” She got very confused and very frazzled. I think people just forgot that, although she looks and acts like a normal 3-year-old toddler, she is still new to America, to the family, and to the environment we were in.
If you have a special needs child I am sure you understand exactly what I am talking about. And although it is good that our family treated Mia just like any other child, they did not take into consideration how she might react to so much stimuli.
Just imagine, close your eyes and have 5 people from 5 different directions ask you to do something; it is very overwhelming and confusing. Luckily Mia did wonderfully and if she felt upset she would find either my husband or myself.
We as the child’s parent needs to know when and how to approach people and explain the situation to others. I just kept reminding people that Mia’s hearing is very sensitive and loud noises bother her. Eventually by the end of the night people were more accustomed to talking quietly, and without as much interruption. But I know this is not going to always be the case. There are going to be times, very soon, that there are just going to be too many people and too many children, to be able to control the environment. I, for example, have two more weeks until the next big family function. This function has 13 children on top of 15-20 adults. There is not going to be a way to keep the noise level down.
Here is my plan; be at the function relatively early and as people arrive let them know that Mia does not always react well to an overload of stimuli and it is very possible that she will get a little freaked out. And that it would be very helpful if, while we are opening presents at least, they do not try to get her to come over to them. If she only has my husbands or my own voice to concentrate on she may have a more enjoyable time.
If you have a special needs child that does not do well in large crowds or uncontrolled environments, I recommend you do the same, or something similar to what we are going to be doing. Even at the holidays we need to remind people that although they are normal children, they also need special consideration from time to time.
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