Even though we have 2 people in our family with Asperger's Syndrome (while I will still believe our youngest is going to be #3), they can each still be somewhat different than each other. Generally, it seems that most people with Asperger's Syndrome tend to shy away from crowds or not like a lot of commotion. With our family it seem some of both.
We had a free gift certificate to a children's museum that was about to expire, so on a day off, we took the family up for a visit. I guess everyone else in the state had the same idea, because the place was packed!
Our youngest, Rose, who had been doing so much better around other people and learning to talk more in preschool, was at first excited to enter a play area, but as soon as others came in, she was afraid and shrunk away from any play.
Our son, MJ who is the officially diagnosed Aspie, wasn't bothered at all. That is one thing different with him. He seems to run around in any situation not so much worrying about who or what is going on. He is almost oblivious to it all. This can be good or bad at times. I guess it is great that all the people and loudness don't bother him, but rather it is that he doesn't know how to act in the right situations. He can be loud and obnoxious in a quiet setting and not understand why it matters, or he can be too soft in a loud situation so as no one can hear anything he is saying. But, at least he was having fun and it didn't bother him that there was a billion other kids running around like mad.
Then of course, there was my husband who seemed to be affected the most. He doesn't have huge meltdowns or freak out in a loud way, but when something is bothering him, I can see it in his eyes that he is having this internal battle or meltdown in which he needs to get out of the situation ASAP or he is going to lose it. Well, this is what he was doing. And, really, I couldn't blame him, as it was really crazy in this place today.
But anyway, I could see that he needed to get out of there. It was just too much. There was too much noise and too many people. But where could he escape to?
In the corner of the toddler/baby area was a little "Nursing Mothers Area" where moms could go and nurse their babies in a sort of quieter corner. I laughed when I look across the large room to see him and our youngest hiding with the nursing moms just reading a book and pointing out pictures together.
It is interesting. I know this isn't the first time for them to not be able to handle the craziness of something. When our 2nd son had a birthday party with over 12 kids in the backyard one year, even that was too much for my husband. It is often if there is too much going on, too many people, or just too much noise, that afterward he will have to go to a sort of quiet place to get himself back together for an hour or more. The more the commotion and craziness, the longer he'll need to take to feel better. You can't even talk to him at times. He needs to just be by himself and have his own time to do whatever he wants. I try to be good. I try to let him have his time and know that when he has settled down that he can be back to his old self again.
