Wow Museum, Lafayette. Mia and I frequent the World of Wonder Children's Museum in Lafayette. We were introduced to this place when Mia was receiving in home therapy through Dayspring. Mia's Occupational Therapist Kate took us there and we were given a free season pass thanks to a scholarship. I've been taking Mia there about three times a month ever since.
We were there last week. Mia went through her usual routine, she waited to get her hand stamped with a purple "WOW" before she entered. She hit all of her favorites, the pirate ship, the music room and the slide. When we went into the room that features "Plinko" like mazes I noticed a wall activity that I've never paid much attention to in the past.
There were two peg boards with about a hundred pegs scattered throughout the holes. I called Mia over and the both of us worked on our own individual projects, arranging the pegs to our own liking. I spelled out "MIA" and she filled in all the holes along the bottom line. We both got completely caught up in our little activity.
Just as I put the finishing touches on my "A" a blonde boy about an inch taller than Mia joined us on the board. He quickly went right to work pulling every peg out of their respective holes. I chocked it up to little boys enjoying destruction so I didn't mind. When he moved over to Mia's side I could see her agitation that he was undoing all of her work. She tried to stop his hand and he pulled out the pegs but he brushed her off and never took his eyes off his task. When his elbows started hitting Mia's stomach I stepped in. I tried to get his attention. "Dont hit her" I said to him as I put him hand on his shoulder. He never acknowledged me, never looked up, never stopped. I then realized, "he's autistic".
I moved Mia back and we let him continue. I know from experience, it's risky to try to get in the way of someone on the spectrum when they have their mind set on a task. I would have thought as a parent of an Autistic child that I would feel more comfortable around other children with the disorder but I still feel at a loss sometimes. Since every kid is different, you never really know what are their stims or ticks. To Mia's credit she had no problem leaving the room, I was happy I didn't have to work out a fight between the two. Last week in our Hanen program, the teachers asked all of the parents who feels like they understand Autism. In a class of 20, nobody raised their hand. We all will be learning about it for the rest of our lives.
