What the News Ticker Said
It was cloudy when we drove up to the train station. Charlie had yet to take off his seatbelt when we heard the roaring of the train: “It’s here already, come on!” said Jim and we tugged Charlie out of the car.
Too fast. Charlie started to cry, or rather to wail, but held onto Jim’s arm as we ran up the stairs. A group of young women—soccer players, from their uniforms—-was boarding one by one and we got on with time to spare. Charlie took a window seat and was quiet, and leaned back taking easier breaths as he looked out over the urban terrain of Newark, and then over the old factories and smoke stacks and reedbeds of the Meadowlands. We got into the city, took the subway up to 76th street and Amsterdam and walked by the JCC (too late the for the Family Art Day but we’ll be back on Thursday for the Lit Café), and then walked down Broadway to Whole Foods. Charlie stood extra-long before the sushi case and finally chose a packet of Vietnamese summer rolls and another with a seafood combo, and then a dessert. The place was packed with the line stretching back almost to the entrance of the store but we found an empty table and Charlie opened everything up and ate contentedly. With a big smile and “hey Dad! Dad!” he reached across the table and held both of Jim’s hands.
On the way out to the street, maybe one of us raised our voices a bit to be heard over the crowds, or maybe it was the jazz mix playing on the second floor of the mall. Charlie started that wail-screech-cry again, loud and—his face made this clear—distressed. He put both fleece-gloved hands over his ears (snuggled under the hood of his blue fleece coat).
Up till the past month, Charlie has never seemed to be sensitive to sounds. Police car sirens, car horns, any kind of music, the roar of the ocean: None of these had seemed to bother him. Only high-pitched sounds—the bark of small dogs; my voice, on occasion—had made him upset. Certainly, the hands-over-both-ears is something Charlie has never done, until now. Another sign of his ever-increasing awareness of his surroundings? The result of his lessons in piano and cello—making Charlie more aware of and attuned to sounds?
I thought it would be best to walk down to Penn Station, as physical exercise has seemed to help Charlie work through his anxieties. Jim insisted that we get on the subway: “The ride and motion soothe him,” he said, and through the turnstile we went. The subway car was filled but Charlie spied a seat and crammed his way in and put his head down, elbows on his knees.
People came on and off and the crowd thinned out. By the time we were down to Canal Street, we had the car entirely to ourselves. Charlie sat up and squinted, hands over his ears sometimes, hands down. Seeing no one else around except for Jim and me, he pulled up his legs onto the seat and then lay down. By the time we got off and walked through lower Manhattan to the PATH station where the WTC once was, Charlie was at ease.
As I glanced to my right, these words were scrolled by on a news ticker on a building: Whatever you think, father knows best…….
No kidding!
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, dad, father, new ticker, new york, news, parents, pdd-nos, subway, train
4 opinions for What the News Ticker Said
M
Apr 7, 2008 at 9:52 am
my own (much, much milder) sensory issues evolved throughout childhood. i don’t remember that happening after 18 or 19. they diminished somewhat and stabilized after that. it was this long acclimation to reality, and until that happened, it was this slow, constant evolving.
Lisa/Jedi
Apr 7, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Brendan has only recently (past 4/5 years) become noticeably sensitive to sensory input, although we may have missed some of it all the whirl of the toddler years… Lately he’s quickly disturbed by certain smells, colours, sounds, even reflections, & some of them send him screeching (sounds very much like Charlie) & us scurrying to provide deep pressure, or whatever seems like it will work. At times like these Brendan usually cannot verbalise his needs, except to tell us what isn’t helping… & it’s really good when both of us are there, drawing on our somewhat different strategies (again, reminds me of your family :). Brendan’s been working with his OT on sensory coping strategies for nearly 2 years & we do see them making a difference, slowly & with practise.
C. S. Wyatt
Apr 7, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I cannot handle mass transit for more than a few minutes and could never imagine being in NYC. As it is, I cannot be in downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul without wanting to scream. I absolutely refuse to be in most shopping malls on a weekend, when every store wants to play music loudly. (Best Buy is a nightmare!)
My sound sensitivity increased in my early 20s and has continued to increase. I’ve always been sensitive to buzzing electronics, but traffic noises became unbearable during my undergraduate studies.
I dream of moving far, far away from city noises, smells, and lights. I’m constantly tense where we are living while in Minnesota. I was much calmer in rural California.
Increasingly, I go from my house to campus and back to my house. This semester, my wife uses her lunch hour to get me to campus and then retrieves me at the end of the day. Just a few more weeks and I can stay home, with the exception of drives into the country.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Apr 7, 2008 at 10:46 pm
@M, “slow, constant evolving”: that phrase describes Charlie.
@Lisa-Jesi, Deep pressure—-lately Charlie has really liked it when I apply this down his spine, for short periods. He also has been grabbing and pinching sometimes when he’s feeling upset and I’ve taken that as a sign of needing deep pressure.
@C.S.Wyatt, We used to live in St. Paul, near Macalester College…..I can’t tolerate Best Buy. I always leave feeling a severe lack of oxygen and Charlie shows immediate signs of distress—too many electronics, not a good thing.
Charlie and I went for a walk in relatively quiet suburban Jersey this afternoon, him with hands over ears and calm.
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