45°
As we entered the auditorium for a fifth grade orchestra performance a few years ago, Peter pointed to the instruments and told Bill, I can hear all the instruments, ALL the instruments.
With PDD-NOS, Peter has always had certain senses that are heightened. Hearing is definitely a sense that is so keen it can become distracting. He lives in a family of performers, so he has spent quite a bit of time at the theater learning how to sit through all the sounds of a show. I used to worry about the loud noises from the speakers. At one show, I finally realized what bothered him most were the conversations in the auditorium while waiting for the lights to dim.
We can focus on the person sitting right next to us and push all the other conversations to the background. Peters hearing enables him to hear many of the conversations in the room at the same time. While that sounds intriguing, it is also nearly impossible then, to focus on the person who is actually speaking to him.
Peter and I worked it out that we entered the auditorium as close to the lights dimming as possible. He started to enjoy going to shows much more. Peter knows he has to be quiet and not leave his seat. He is not perfect at the silence, but he does quite well nowadays. He has even attended Wicked on Broadway. We did a Kids' Night on Broadway event to give him a little leeway and sat in the front of the balcony, not the orchestra.
Recently, Peter was in the audience of Yorktown Stages Willy Wonka. His Dad was playing Grandpa George and his little sister, Kit, was an Oompa Loompa. We had prepared Peter that Kit would look very different and even have green hair because of a wig.
Peter whispered a few times trying to find the right Oompa Loompa under all the orange make up and green wigs, otherwise he did well. Now he is gearing up for his cousins' Christmas show. I bet he will be able to pick out his cousins' voices better than the rest of us.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
