Trick or Treating – Age is Just a Number

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 age.

I just want to point out 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 overcome; 

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 to), 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, not be left out, and to hopefully be excited about something.  

In 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, hats, makeup, ect.

 She does however like candy, and she understands that this is part of the process.

Over time with repetition of doing this every year she does great! This is why we go out and keep trying. 

Two years ago I decided I would keep her home. After all she is getting older, her younger siblings are also getting older, and honestly I am not the biggest Halloween fan. Frankly, I thought she wouldn’t know; It’s not like she knows what day Halloween is. 

Well I was wrong. As she was watching her sisters get ready she was smiling, laughing, and 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. 

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 know what it takes for 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 gave 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.