Sneeze Cough
July 10, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
When you’re the parent of an autistic child, the smallest things—the littlest bit of progress—can mean the most. It is certainly exciting to be able to tell about a child who is mainstreamed, or who has learned how to read, or who can speak in clear and full sentences, but achievements that might seem trivial and trifling can always make my day.
About two years ago, Charlie did not like it when Jim and I sneezed or coughed, or when anyone did, for that matter. It was something about the harshness and grating-ness of the sound, and its occurring unexpectedly. Charlie expressed the potential assault-by-parental-sneeze/cough on his senses by hitting his head more than a few times and crying out, and Jim and I took to suppressing said sounds, or hurrying into the next room. Yes, I felt a bit ridiculous to do this but my discomfort at sneeze-suppression was significantly less than how I felt to see Charlie’s forehead meeting the table.
A good part of Charlie’s education teaches him to deal with the cognitive dissonance caused by the unexpected. We have also sought to desensitize Charlie to the various non-verbal sounds that a parent with allergies or a cold endures, by coughing (gently) and letting him know that we appreciate him not minding. Charlie now occasionally musters a fake cough or sneeze and grins: I think he is pleased that he has learned to handle these noises.
So I think he would be all right watching this video in which a panda gets some cute Rx (and thanks to Healthbolt for the video link).
Gesundheit!
This is the cutest video!! Amigo was scared of sneezes when he was a baby. We attributed this to his blindness.
I’m going to show it to Charlie and see what he thinks……
Hm. C. has been faking sneezes to get attention since around 4 months….
(I think she started that sometime after the hiccups stopped — she was hiccuping once or twice a day her last month or two before birth!)
I laughed so hard at this video! Thanks for the much needed belly laugh this morning. John had a classmates that was sensitive to coughs, too. I think it made for a tough winter season in the classroom. John does not appreciate demands being placed on others around him. Fortunately, he does not self-injure but he will get in the “demanders” face and scream and cry. We’re still working on how to help him with that.