Because Amor is highly verbal, she tells me how she feels. Many times she confirms to me how Son-Rise® understands and helps special kids.

Yesterday afternoon, Amor seemed ok, in fact fantastic, as we took the train ride home. At the end of the day she was narrating everything that happened and even inserting lots of humour in her story making both of us laugh at her crazy ideas…

…then all of a sudden Amor cried. It seemed like a cry of pain/fear. Amor hardly cries. She has always been my strong fighter despite her special needs. So when she does cry, I know it’s serious. 

I asked her why. She said she was afraid of the announcements at the train. Amor had lots hearing sensory issues when she was younger. While she has overcome many fears associated with sounds, I wouldn’t be surprised that she was still affected by noise in public, crowded places. Now I know how serious it still is for her, even if she showed no signs of fear throughout the whole day.

When Amor cried, I didn’t dismiss it by telling her it was nothing to worry about. I acknowledged her fears. I allowed her to cry and gave her that assurance that we would be there with her even if there were sounds that bothered her. I gave her my shortcut to overcoming my own fears (see Fastest way to overcome fear)

I would have never known how deeply affected Amor was by something so ordinary as train announcements, if it hadn’t been for her now being able to amazingly express herself. I feel blessed that she does tell me and we can work on it together.

I’m sure Nathan’s speech will continue to progress and he too will be able to tell me in detail, all the things, ordinary to us, but bothers him so much and diminishes all his efforts to try to come out to autism and interact with us. 

In the photo: my brave Amor in the train, mustering all her courage to contain her sensory issues so we can commute back home uneventfully…I smile as I remember how she used to throw tantrums and throw herself on the floor many times in public places and I couldn’t understand why. Now she can tell me.