There is a video going around the internet of a little boy with autism crying at a Coldplay concert.
When I first saw the video I thought 'wow, how sweet' and I may have 'liked' the video on a page or two.
However like most feel good stories about people with autism multiple people started taging me or posting it to my page. It is not that I don't like feel good stories or stories about Autism..... but you see if you have seen it I have seen if on 4 different sites I follow and then some.
Ok back to the little boy seeing Coldplay live. After the video was posted to my wall 5 times.... yes 5.... I took the message as 'look, here is a child like your child. You have a child with autism like this boy.' So I watched it again looking at this boy as if he were mine and I didn't like it. Not because I am not really a Coldplay fan or anything. If I knew Miles loved Coldplay and wanted to see them I would take him.
When most people see the look on the boy's face they see his pure emotion. What I see is the start of sensory overload. I start to feel anxious looking at this boy. I am waiting for him to completely loose it, have a meltdown and try to run away. "But he loves Coldplay!" you tell me. Yes he does, I can see that too. I don't know this little boy. He may have more control than mine. Maybe his dad hugging him and singing to him helps him regulate.
I see a look I have seen on Miles before, but usually it doesn't go so well for Miles. One example is Miles' love for the movie Cars. One day he handed me the movie and I started it in the DVD player. The movie started and he got excited, beyond excited, like it was the best thing in the world. All of the sudden he pure joy turned into crying, but looked 'joyous'. Then he lost it! Started melting down, jumping screaming, hitting himself on the head. He could not regulate his emotions and looked scared. I turned it off and calmed him down.
