With Halloween coming up there has been a lot of debate about trick or treating . I have seen a lot of really positive posts making people aware of all different styles of communication and different expectations for trick or treaters. There have also been a lot of negative posts regarding ages ect . I just want to point how difficult these special occasions are for children with special needs and their parents .

It doesn’t matter where you fall on the spectrum or whether there are other types of special needs . There are so many challenges to over come . Just getting a costume on , motor planning to go up and down stairs , understanding , waiting , saying please and thank you ( if they are even able too ) making sense of walking around in the dark . We as parents feel compelled to have them try , to let them be a part of this milestone and not be left out , to hopefully be excited about something . I’m our experience it has taken a long time but somewhere along the way she started to get it.

We have to be aware of her costume , she wore the same one for many years . She doesn’t like most of the accessories, wigs , hat make up ect . She does however like candy , and she understands that this is part of the process . Over time repetition of doing this every year she does great ! This is why we do this and keep trying .

Two years ago I decided I would keep her home . After all she is getting older , her younger siblings are getting older and honestly I am not the biggest Halloween fan . And frankly she wouldn’t know ; It’s not like she knows what day Halloween is . Well I was wrong she was watching her sisters get ready . She was smiling and laughing , getting excited . She 100 percent knew what was going on . I Hadn’t gotten her a costume!
You can not take out a 20 year old with no costume ~ trust me . I headed to the closet to find -something . Thankfully my other daughters do dance and I came up with something real quick

. Now it wasn’t really a costume so I had to add something else . I tried to put a little make up on her. This is a big no no for her . She resisted a little but let me do it , she was mostly laughing . It was like she knew somehow .

I guess my point is no matter the age , you don’t what it takes a person with special needs to get to this place . Age is just a number and is irrelevant in the special needs world . She was way more aware than I have her her credit for. Kudos to all the moms that are going through the hard parts right now. It will get easier . Look how happy she was😊

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