SPD and Socialization

We are a week into SPD awareness month and I haven't posted anything about Meechi's SPD at all. Of course I did post this just last month. I experienced another glimpse at how SPD has the potential to hinder Meechi's social life the other day and I figure that is as good a way to bring light to SPD as any for awareness month.

I went along on Meechi's Kindergarten fieldtrip on Thursday. We went to a dairy farm and pumpkin patch. It was an interesting place to visit and of course with Meechi's love of animals he thought it was pretty cool. He enjoyed getting to see them milk the cows, but then asked me, "that is where milk comes from? Eeeeeeew!" Don't worry, he still drinks it. Later he got the chance to feed a bottle of milk to a calf and to a lamb. He gave feed to the turkeys and chickens, and even to the cows. We even got to watch some pig races. He was in animal lover heaven.

The trip was not all heaven for him though. There were plenty of things to put his sensory avoidance to the test. First was the wind. It was the kind of day that would have had Pooh and Piglet plastered to the window of Owl's house. In other words, very blustery. It doesn't take a really strong wind to get Meechi whining, so this strong wind had him practically weepy. I did my best to be his wind block by always standing upwind of him or moving him to a position where he would be blocked by the crowd or a building. I also made sure he was always the last person getting on or off the wagon for the hayride out to the pumpkin patch and back. He is still really uncomfortable on stairs so he goes slow, holds the rail tight, and still tends to want to sit and scootch down the stairs sometimes.

The real challenge for him though was the playground. Why does there always have to be a playground? He wouldn't get near the swings that looked like cute horses even though everyone else in his group was clambering over them. I did get him on the tire swing, swinging slow and low, but even that made him uneasy. Once again he was left playing on whatever equipment doesn't move or involve being off the ground while the majority of the other kids were climbing and swinging and having fun together. For Meechi the playground is not a place of togetherness, but rather a place of isolation.

He did have fun on his fieldtrip and he did hang out with friends through most of it. He and his good friend Buddy even managed to hang out together a lot despite being in different groups. They always seemed to find a way to ditch their assigned partner and find each other. I am thankful for the low sensory moments in the day in which Meechi can fit in. It is those other times that I worry about how it will effect him socially. I dread the day when kids start making fun of him and calling him names thinking he is too scared to play in the same ways they do.

Have you written a post about SPD? Link it up here. Lets bring some awareness to SPD.