I do love how other things keep cropping up to keep me from writing about the weekend…
So, last night while the wife and I were reading Facebook, there was a message posted to the local Autism Parents’ group asking after ideas for a Halloween costume for a boy with sensory-aversion to wearing a mask or hat.
Now, the Monster has no aversions to hats. (Masks, I’ve not yet tried, but I don’t see that one going over well. Granted… I don’t particularly like masks either.) In past years at my office’s Halloween party, he’s been a cowboy and “Employee of the Year”. The wife has ideas for this year, but…
I, however, got easily side-tracked, thinking about various ideas for dealing with the Monster’s own tendencies. Our company Halloween party is 3 hours long, and I’m not expecting him to really make it through it without the iPad. So… I suggested dressing him up as a Genius Bar tech. Making a little lanyard for him, putting him in a blue shirt, etc. She wasn’t quite so interested in that, but I thought it was brilliant, since the iPad would then just be a prop.
On the other hand, it occurred to me the frequency with which I see children with Autism with their headphones. So I started brainstorming – what do you do for those kids for costumes, to make the headphones “blend in”… which, yes, is really more about making things as “normal” as possible for the parents and any siblings as anything else. My ideas:
- The guy at the airport who directs planes. Get a reflective vest, use black electrical tape on the back to use the airport code for the nearest airport, and get two flashlights to build the plane-directing-things.
- In the same vein – baggage handler. Same basic concept, but give them a small suitcase or a wagon with a couple of boxes on it (can double as the goody bag).
- Landscaper – get a jump-suit and one of those toy vacuums that bounces the balls around to be the lawnmower. Works best for younger kids.
- DJ (my favorite, and works with regular headphones too) – Dress them in all black, build a platform that looks like a turntable. Attach it to a belt or to cords around their neck. If the headphones are real ones, hide their music player in the ‘turntable’ and run the cord to it.
Of course, this is just me, and I’m always leaning more towards making a costume than buying one, but…