I figured out pretty early that HistoryBoy calms easier with music, stays calmer when music is in the background. I am a music person. I love listening to music. I always listened to music when I was pregnant. I played lullibies for him when he was an infant. Then he got into Barney and the Wiggles, Blues Clues. We had the soundtracks and listened to them in CD players.
I found that if I needed to go out I would plop him in his stroller with the head phones on and whatever CD he picked. Also, those little headphone that come with a CD player annoyed him. He could hear too much outside noise. HistoryBoy hated them. We had to go buy the large ones that covered his whole ears, the big ones. Luckily I found a pair on sale on clearence at Target otherwise they would have cost like $40. I think the CD player was $10! I also did have to bring a selection of CDs with me because if he changed his mind mid outing it was major meltdown city.
Do not get me wrong, this did not avoid all meltdowns, we had to nudge, beg and cajole to make HistoryBoy want to go out into some noisy place with lots of people that I wanted to venture to but it made it easier. We could go to the mall for a short outing with him nestled in the stroller with his music on his ears. I kept him in that stroller as long as he could fit in it. I think it also helped his comfort level in a large overwhelming place like the mall.
Unfortunately now he is WAY too big for something like that to work. Luckily, he does have an mp3 player now. If we venture to the mall, he almost always uses it. For school too, it is in his IEP now that if he has completed the learning/teaching part of the assignment he is allowed to wear headphone mp3 player and listen to music to complete his classwork.
It is amazing what music can help our children accomplish.
I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave a comment or email me at teenahope@gmail.com
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