Our biggest challenge in the world of autism right now is Alyssa’s inability to tolerate Courtney’s noises. Courtney has all sorts of noises…happy noises, mad noises, in between noises, and a licking noise (that I too find very annoying). Oh the noise, noise, noise! All of these noises at any point can send Alyssa in a downward tailspin towards complete meltdown mode that puts the Grinch to shame.

These meltdowns start with just a moan of displeasure. If Courtney continues making the noise, Alyssa’s moans get louder and nastier. Then she quickly snaps. Items start to be thrown, she starts hitting Courtney, she will even rip Courtney’s headphones off and hide them. It gets ugly. Alyssa gets so loud during this that Courtney can’t handle being by her. So separate levels of the house they go.

Alyssa has struggled with this for a while now but we are at a point where it’s making it difficult for us to function as a family. At home we find that them staying on different levels of the house helps but that’s impossible during vacations in a hotel rooms or small cottages. This was definitely our biggest challenge during our last vacation. Headphones help but we are finding she’s starting to hate that she has to wear headphones.

We’ve been working with an OT and a psychologist to help figure not only why this is all happening but how can we help her cope with these noises in a more positive way since stopping Courtney from making these noises is an impossible task.

Alyssa loves her sister. There is no question about that. It is so hard as their mom to see that them being in the same room causes so much angst and anxiety. So much frustration and even more noise, noise, noise!