When considering having children, sensory issues were never something that had entered my thoughts.  Even now – with the Monster being how he is – I rarely consider the matter.  After all, the Monster’s really not sensory adverse.  (He’s sensory seeking at times, but usually in ways that aren’t horrifyingly ‘awful’ – he has a fascination with hair and occasionally with crumbling paper or the like.)

However… the cicadas are coming this spring.

Cicadas have always freaked me out.  I’m not big on big bugs, much less ones that perch everywhere.  (And yes, I’ll admit that at my age.)  Even if it’s only for a few weeks, I really, really, really don’t like them, and I’ll do almost anything to avoid dealing with them.

On the other hand, I’d never really considered the noise they make.  I’m used to it on some level – a lot of anime uses the sound of cicadas chirping as a sign that it’s summer or that it’s a rural area – but I genuinely forget how loud it gets when a brood emerges here in the States.  To me, it’s an annoyance, and something that I learned a long time ago to just screen out after a few hours for the sake of my sanity.  To a child with sensory issues, I can only imagine that the concept of the sheer volume would be torture for a few weeks.

And that makes me start to worry about what’s going to happen if we have any decent emergence here in my local area.  (Supposedly, the brood is supposed to be a bit south of us.)  The Monster has, of late, been covering his ears at some louder sounds, and I’m trying to imagine what might happen if he does react badly to the sound.  Are we going to have to get him sound-dampening headphones like I’ve seen so many other children with Autism wearing in public venues?  Are we going to have to get a white noise machine for his room to try to quiet things down?

Granted, I probably am being overzealous with my imagination… but it’s that “be prepared for the worst” thing that all of us parents of children with Autism do…