Creatures at my Door

Halloween

In a few days, a lot of creatures will visit your door. Be open minded. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy might have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy might have motor planning issues. The child who does not say "trick or treat" or "thank you" might be painfully shy, non-verbal. They are thankful in their hearts and minds. The

child who looks disappointed when he sees your bowl might have a life-threatening allergy. The child who isn't wearing a costume at all might have SPD or autism. Be kind, be patient, smile, pretend you understand. It's everyone's Halloween. Make a parent feel good by making a big deal of their special child. ♥

I never know exactly how Caroline is going to ask when we are at big public events.  Sometimes she gets overwhelmed by all the people and noise.

Halloween is no different.  I also get embarrassed because my usual polite child forgets to say "thank you" and she sometimes either gets too much candy or she tries to get candy when the home owner wants to give it out.   Saturday, we went to a "trunk or treat" type deal.  A local park had vendors set up tables and gave out candy.  There were two separate lines and they went in a "U" shape.

There was also an area for face painting, magic tricks, and some stuff I didn't see.  They also had a hay ride.    Caroline was frustrated a few times with the different way of giving out candy.  There were so many people that she plugged her ears some of the time and didn't say thank you.

It was so cold that night and my kids costumes were not winter proof.  Caroline, above, is a Hippy Chick.  Lauren, right, is Harry potter.  At least Lauren has a robe and can wear warm clothes underneath.  

Wednesday night we will go out in the neighborhood.  I hope it is warmer!  

We will have to go through a social story about the night.  Maybe about remembering to say thank you and about getting candy.  Caroline gets mad at me when I reminder her to be polite.  This makes the situation worse sometimes but I'm not going to stop.

Good luck to all those with special needs kids.