Movie Theater

The first time I took Aiden to the movies it didn’t go so great. We sat in the back row incase we had to emergency exit, which we did.  He couldn’t stay focused on the movie, only on his immediate surroundings. Trying to get up and leave, being loud, crying, etc. He just wasn’t ready for such an experience.  When we tried again it was at Randall 15 IMAX in Batavia and we only went because they were doing a special “autism friendly” screening.  They are starting to do more special autism or sensory friendly movie screenings now, but back then it was unheard of.  A sensory screening is when they show a movie with the lights on and the sound turned down significantly. Getting up and talking or making sounds is welcomed and acceptable.  That show was more comfortable for both him and I (no worrying about people’s comments or staring) but we still only made it to less than halfway through the movie.  He just didn’t show any interest.  I was surprised because he had a ton of tv shows that he really enjoyed but I guess a movie theater and all its elements were just too unfamiliar and unpredictable for him.  So sometime later, on my third attempt at taking him to a movie, we actually made it through the whole thing!  I took him on a Friday right after school so he still had his art project with him, a wild looking face mask with feathers that he had made out of construction paper.  He refused to let it go so he wore it throughout the whole movie.  He also wore headphones to muffle the loud noises.  He did very well, although he would lose interest whenever there was more talking than action.  Especially if it were humans talking instead of animals.  Now he’s a movie going expert.  

If he knows when a new movie is coming out he will write it on his calendar and will remind me everyday of how many days are left until we go to the theater.  He still has some trouble with the human dialogue parts but he no longer takes headphones with him, just 1 toy, usually a dinosaur.