I’ve been talking about sensory issues in regards to my kids for years. The story always seems to revolve around shoes, socks, and school, especially in Emmett’s case.

Almost every single morning, we spend upwards of an hour or more, trying to help Emmett tolerate his shoes and socks.

There are times that we succeed in overcoming these obstacles and there are days in which we don’t even come close. The examples I’ve given have mostly revolved around Emmett missing school because he can’t tolerate his shoes and socks.

No matter how many times I’ve tried to explain that Emmett’s not trying to get out of going to school, there’s always that doubt in people’s mind because it seems like getting to stay home is his ultimate goal.

As I’ve stated many times, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Emmett loves school and a large part of why he gets so upset are because he wants to be in class, but his body is making that very difficult for him.

Having said that, I wanted to share a brief video that might help provide some insight into a real life impact of sensory processing disorder.

I’ve posted videos before of Emmett’s reaction to shoes and socks while getting ready for school. It’s pretty easy to dismiss this because it seems like he just wants to get out of going to school. Frankly, I get why people struggle with this, especially those without first-hand experience.

In today’s video, we are trying to take the boys to see a movie at the theater. Everyone is excited about going, including Emmett. Emmett very much wants to go to see the movie. He wants to see it in the worst way.

The point is, he’s not trying to get out of anything. In fact, he’s desperately trying to be okay with his shoes and socks so that we can leave. In other words, there are absolutely zero payouts for him to freak out and not wear his shoes or socks.

I only recorded about two minutes of this. I want you to watch because it shows that not only does he struggle with shoes and socks before going to school, he also struggles with shoes and socks while getting ready for a movie, he desperately wants to see.

This is so important to understand because people with sensory processing disorder (a common comorbidity of Autism) have very real, life impacting struggles. These struggles can affect every aspect of their lives.

The video below is my wife and I trying to help Emmett work through one of these obstacles, so we can go to the theater and see a movie. He’s not trying to get out of anything and wants to go, but his body isn’t cooperating. Please turn your volume down before clicking play.

https://youtu.be/gr6CagCxByk