Many kids with special needs suffer from sensory input on overdrive. This is especially true when it comes to chemical smells. For some, exposure to certain smells can cause a downward spiral.
Some kids are overly sensitive to the smells of household cleaning products. For others it’s the fumes given off by new carpeting and paint. My son was sensitive to the fumes given off by polyester fabric, as well as others.
One family I know of suffered a setback when their child was put on a school bus that had just been cleaned on the inside with harsh chemicals. They had made incredible gains with their child, only to see him revert to his shell after exposure. At a church my family used to attend a mother came to look at the bathrooms in the Sunday School area. She knew that depending on the cleaning products they used in the bathrooms her kids might not be able to attend the classes.
Just because you can’t smell anything offensive doesn’t mean your child can’t. One time we had a new fleece throw on the back of a couch. My son had sat down next to his mother to watch TV. After a few minutes he told her that he was starting to feel that sick feeling he sometimes gets. She ended up removing the fleece throw and low and behold he quickly felt better. His body picked up on the off gassing of the polyester. My wife & I couldn’t smell a thing from the fabric.
Another time we flew somewhere and rented a car. The car was fairly new, and still had a bit of that ‘new car smell’. We had to put the windows down for my son to tolerate riding in the car. There were just too many plastic smells overwhelming his system.
Just as our kids systems may be sensitive to the smells around them, we need to be sensitive to what’s affecting their environment.
