Over the past week I have become acutely aware of just how important the ear really is. My youngest has had fluid on his ears and is getting ready to have tubes put in. The last few days have been an exercise in patience as every word spoken elicits the 'What?' response. He can't hear the TV, he can't hear us talking to him, he can't even hear the cars moving about the subdivision. The good part for him is that this is temporary. The good part is that with a 15 minute surgery he'll join the world of sounds and words once again. Imagine if you will, if you heard everything. Imagine if the world of sound was a confused jumble of noise and static. Imagine if you will, what's it like to be autistic.

People with autism frequently have difficulty with auditory processing. The ears work just fine, it's merely the auditory signal that gets jammed and jumbled once it reaches the brain. Sounds in the environment are hard to isolate, hard to ignore, and hard to work around. Being a parent, I realize just how important not only hearing is, but also the ability to tune things out. If we listened to every sound in the environment as if they are ALL important, not much is really understood. The context of every action, every thought, every experience gets jumbled in a cacophony of noise. The noise lacks meaning and significance and differentiating between what's important and what's not becomes impossible to discern. Differentiating between foreground noise and background noise becomes unimaginable.

Imagine being in the classroom and the teacher is talking about how to do next week's assignment. The teacher is speaking while students are shifting in their seats, tapping pencils and shuffling through papers. The window is open and another class is outside for recess. The building is close to a road and cars are traveling to and fro. A train whistle sounds in the distance. The wind is blowing and a breeze catches the trees outside and the leaves begin to rustle and shake. If you are a student with autism--you hear each one of these sounds as if each one carries the same level of importance and quite possibly always tied together. Math happens at the same time as the train schedule sends a choo-choo past the school every day and algebraic equations are forever linked to passenger trains.

Imagine going to the doctor and getting your blood drawn. It's already a stressful experience and all the staff is attempting to calm you down. Nurses and phlebotomists and parents are all talking at the same time each telling you, "It's ok", "We're almost done", or "It doesn't hurt that bad". All you hear is noise and none of it ends up being comforting because all meaning and significance is lost in the bedlam of babble. When speaking with the autistic person please remember to speak ONE at a time. Otherwise, you all speak and nothing is heard and nothing is understood.

Imagine being at home and trying to do your homework. Your brother is playing with his Star Wars figurines replete with George Lucas sound effects. Your sister is on the phone while the latest Lady Gaga song blares from her radio. The dishwasher runs in the kitchen and the washer is in the spin cycle while the dryer hums away. The television is set to the news channel and the Geico commercial is playing yet again. Your mom and dad are talking about the day's events. The dog barks at the cat as they both tear through the house. All while you have to finish today's essay on the importance of the food guide pyramid. And you can't tune any of it out. You hear it all, all the time, every day. Day in and day out--life is filled with noise and more noise. Silence may be golden, but you never really get to experience it.

Remember that what you say is as important as how you say it. Remember that noise pollution is a real problem for those with autism. Remember that if the child isn't understanding you and appears to be ignoring you that it has less to do with hearing nothing and everything to do with hearing it all.