In the Audience
April 19, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
My college students are performing Cabaret and tonight Charlie and I went to see it. For the past month, Charlie has been doing something he has never done before, putting his hands over his ears when the radio is on in the car and when he hears human voices that are too loud or high-pitched. So I was not sure if bringing Charlie to a musical was the best idea.
We sat down in the back row and Charlie said hello to the athletics director (at my prompting) and then “no” to shaking hands with the chair of the history department. There were musicians on stage and when they started playing, up went Charlie’s hands; the same happened when there was dialogue and for most of the singing (especially when two female students sang in high girlish voices) and when the drums played. Only at the mellower voice of the student playing the lead role of Sally Bowles, did Charlie put down his hands, and then up they went again when the talking began.
At first I thought we should leave but Charlie did not ask to go. When a group of people sat in front of us, he craned his neck to follow the actors, and his eyes intently followed an ensemble of dancing figures moving around the stage. And in the scene when Sally Bowles entered the room of the young American writer Clifford Bradshaw and said, “Can I get you a drink?”, Charlie beside me said “Yes, green drink.”
“Audience” is from the Latin word for “hear, listen,” audire. Even with his hands over his ears, Charlie was definitely doing his part as a member of the audience, totally tuning in.
Not sure if this is relevant to Charlie, but I know that it actually took me quite a while before I even figured out that particular sounds bothered me. As a very young child I was described as “irritable”, and I do remember feeling uncomfortable a lot, but I had no way to articulate what was making me uncomfortable. It took me years to figure out that I COULD cover my ears to block out bad sounds, and that blocking out bad sounds made me less “irritable”.
I remember when I first started covering my ears more, my sister made kind of a big deal about it and said something like, “You didn’t USED to do that! Why are you making a big deal about noises now?” But it wasn’t that the noises didn’t bother me before, it was that I didn’t make the connection between “feeling uncomfortable” and “hearing sound” for a while, nor did I realize initially that I had any kind of power to do something about the uncomfortable-ness. (I actually had that about a lot of things — e.g., figuring out whether I was too warm, or hungry, etc.)
It can be difficult to figure out (and remediate) “what bothers you” when people around you aren’t bothered by the same things. I remember feeling like I was “supposed to” be bothered by things other people complained about but that I was not bothered by, and generally “bothered” at times when others were not but unable to articulate why. I’ve sorted a lot of that out now but it has taken a long time indeed.
However, in spite of all that, there were some areas where I just “did things” that seemed to be sensory-related that were actually pretty adaptive, but didn’t know why I did them at the time (putting blankets over my head, hiding in boxes/small spaces, etc.). And I did know to close/cover my eyes if the sun was in them (see here…I was about 5 or 6), and that certain food textures were unbearable from a fairly early age.
Looks Like Charlie’s not about to let the sensory environment interfere with the fun of live performance. What is a ‘green drink’?
I took Amigo to his high school’s production of Cats last year, with seats in the front row to help compensate for his vision impairment. It turned out to be too close and too loud; we left at intermission. This year, we went to Crazy for You and sat a little further back. Much better! Good for you to recognize his need for distance from the sounds.
How wonderful that you both got to enjoy the show! My fondest wish is to be able to share live performances with Nik. We’re slowly working our way there, I think. Last year he would scream and cry if I sang anything but kids’ songs; now he laughs and claps (albeit somwhat indiscriminately) and seems to enjoy the sounds. The attention span though…
How fun…you can add live shows to your list of things to do together.
green drink = Sprite! (preferably from a can)
I started by taking Charlie to student variety/talent shows on my college campus. They are just over an hour long, free, and very casual (and often not too well attended). I set the goal for a Successful Night as 10 minutes originally—-little by little, as Daisy noted—and try to leave wen everyone’s still happy. Attention has definitely been growing.
AnneC—thanks so much for noting that about it taking some time to figure out what bothered you—-I have been wondering if Charlie has, of late, been much more aware of sounds, and so aware of the ones that bother him, and just of any sound’s effect on him. It does mean he likes the comfort of his fleece hood even on a hot day here.
Good for you and Charlie! We just got home from watching my daughter perform with the Youth Symphony…and I sat there so proud of Reid’s behavior…composing a post in my head about how “practice makes perfect.” It was not always so! It is fascinating how different pitches are more tolerable and others more aversive. That of course is the argument for AIT and Samonas programs.