The holidays. Glitter. Lights. Sparkly ornaments. It’s a beautiful time of year. Music piped in everywhere you go. Hustle and bustle of shoppers. It’s “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
Except when it’s not.
To children with sensory issues? The holidays are overstimulating. Loud. Chaotic. Mind wearing. Filled with routine changes. Too merry, and far too bright.
Think about your students. Think about what they need. Think about their point of view.
1) Provide a quiet space. A simple “Snow Dome” that could be a cardboard box covered with white paper with lights inside. An escape. Comforting. Something they can access and control, when the holiday spirit feels far too out of control.
2) Consider how comforting it might be for a child to wear headphones to block out the noise, listen to soft music, or block out the loud voices of the kids around him shouting ‘I LOVE CHRISTMAS!”
3) Don’t force holiday treats on kids. If a kid doesn’t want to try the cookie, the chocolate bar, the candy cane, and the pile of flavored popcorn, respect it. Some kids just don’t like candy. It’s not meant to be rude, it’s truly that they don’t enjoy that treat the same way some of us do.
4) Realize that everyone has a different interpretation of what “fun” is. The Christmas program, the crowded gymnasium, with kids shouting carols at the top of their lungs might seem like a blast to those of us whose senses interpret the world one way. But, to the kid whose senses interpret the world differently? That scenario is about as enjoyable as the sound of the dentists drilling while nails scrape on a chalkboard.
If you teach, reach out to the parents of those kids who interpret the world differently. Tell them you’d like to understand and ask them what you can do to make their child’s holiday experience in your classroom more comfortable.
You just might be the first person that ever asks them that. And that? It will be one of the best gifts you can give. The gift of understanding.
To some children, holiday joy is just a different kind.