As a non-parent, I’m often in awe of how those with kids manage to wrangle themselves and their children out the door in the morning.
Like, the number of mornings where I’ve gotten to my car and realized I didn’t have the keys is embarrassing.
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The idea of travelling with children terrifies me.
That fear is only exacerbated if the children are on the autism spectrum.
As annoyed as I might get by hearing kids on flights, I try to remember that I have the privilege of putting my headphones on and ignoring it. The parents don’t and I applaud them for it.
It’s not just the stress of helping the child, but also the sheer exhaustion caused by constantly apologizing and explaining things to fellow travelers.
Which is probably why the father of an autistic boy began to preemptively warn Rachel Romeo about the chance of a difficult journey as she sat next to them for an eight-hour flight.
But what he didn’t know was that besides being patient, Romeo is actually a developmental neuroscientist and speech-language pathologist.
She told the father this and said that he didn’t need to worry, but even before takeoff, it was clear that the son was upset.
At one point, the situation got pretty serious.
He screamed and even hit Romeo, but though the father kept apologizing, he didn’t seem to know what else to do.
When Romeo asked him about how the boy usually communicated his needs, the father was at a loss.
It was obvious that the family had almost no experience with some of the alternative communication options and therapies available.
So Romeo asked if she could try a few ideas.
She decided to try a basic communication board, which is a common alternative for nonverbal people.
The method involves teaching the person to associate symbols with their wants and feelings, allowing them to point to what they want to communicate.
Romeo made a rudimentary version using just a paper and pen.
And it worked!
Over the eight-hour flight, the boy had become adept at asking for things with the simple drawings instead of yelling or grabbing for them.
The boy simply wanted to communicate, but hadn’t been given the chance to develop the skill in a way that worked for him.
Romeo also explained the system to the boy’s father so that they could continue practicing and adding more symbols to their family dictionary.
His father couldn’t believe it.
He was near tears at the possibilities and it just goes to show the difference that awareness of and access to such communication therapies can make in a child’s life.
This kind of compassion is important.
Transportation should be accessible for everyone, not just able bodied and neurotypical people. If we took the time to help those around us who are seemingly having a tougher time, all of us would have a better travel experience.
The boy wasn’t misbehaving or acting out. He simply wanted to communicate.
And in a simple act of kindness and patience, a fellow passenger on a random plane may have changed his life.
It’s no wonder that when Romeo shared the story on Twitter, it got tens of thousands of likes and shares. These are the kinds of stories we need right now.
