AIBU to ask you which businesses are the least Autism friendly?

[LarrytheCucumber]

I nominate NatWest for their new look complete with confusing banks of cash machines and loud music. (Also bad for hearing aid wearers).

That's awful whistling, why not just tone down the displays so it's not a problem for her?

Classrooms were fairly muted when I was at school, I managed ok.
I struggle to enter ds's classroom.
It's all wrong but no-one will actually do something about it!

I used to run drama classes & we hired a primary school to run them in

I did some training called Autism Aware & was advised to take a big white sheet to cover up all the displays each week. My colleagues thought I was mad.

But when one teacher covered a different class held in a secondary school drama studio (completely blank space) she was amazed at the difference in behaviour of all the children not just ones with an asd.

Whistling that's bad terminology, but do they just mean an individual work station? We constructed some quite basic ones using cardboard boxes which could be covered in neutral coloured paper (or in one case orange, because it was the child's favourite colour). It gave the child a private space and helped to give them an area away from the other distractions of the classroom.

That sounds a bit nicer larry isolation booth sounded rather scary and I had this image of her being led into some separate little chamber all alone!

IKEA is definitely bad - unable to escape that maze of the upstairs, shortcuts that no longer exist, then staff tell you to use doors that have been barricaded off. Then having to find the items you want and most likely some will be out of stock. And you can't get through the market hall area without passing a huge display of scented candles that is worse than a branch of Lush.

Most service stations - noisy hand dryers, crowds, flashing lights from all the machines trying to get you to spend money, smells of greasy food and disinfectant. And similar garish loud places like Tesco.

Lovely to see how many cinemas now do "relaxed showings" of kids' films which are meant to be autism-friendly. Must be more lucrative than subtitled showings...

Wall displays in primary schools encourage and stimulate children. Also the use of music can help some pupils within a class situation

Eeeek686 I used to wear ear defenders in the house when my DC were small. As I said upthread, I am NT, but a whole day with young children was just too much.

I chose not to send DS to a pre-school, just because they played music while the children played. I instinctively knew it wouldn't work for him. The infant school he went to was rather dull by most peoples standards. But it was great for DS because it wasn't over stimulating.

My personal opinion on classroom wall displays is that they are so busy nobody actually takes anything in from them. And random things dangling from the ceiling should be ripped down. Maybe mood-lighting, with only words relevant to the lesson projected onto a blank wall is the way to go.

Classroom wall displays distract from what a child is supposed to be doing.

I disagree wall displays can be a positive influence in terms of the preparatio, child input and achievement. Having children's work on a wall can give a sense of achievement, whilst it can develop interest and stimulate debate

When I say I chose not to send DS to a pre-school, I did find a really lovely environmentally friendly/organic pre-school which suited him right down to the ground.

Asda!

I think displays can be over the top, but a well constructed display can help pupils and for many stimulate and encourage learning.

Classroom wall displays are often not just childrens work though. It's a cacophony of other stuff which is incredibly distracting.

Personally I like to see the work displayed in the corridors outside classrooms where the whole school community can see what has been achieved but it isn't distracting.

Probably somewhere, PolterGoose, which is why classroom walls can only have information on them, and all children's own work can only be displayed in corridors.

Odeon. No notion of reasonable volume.

I personally choose cinemas that have better sound for some films. Especially those where the music is integral to the film.

But odeon do lots of autism friendly screenings where lights are up & noise levels kept reasonable.

My two have never needed them as theatre /cinema is their 'thing'

and for many stimulate and encourage learning. Yes, my dyslexic DD probably benefits from the tree display which dangles from the ceiling, dripping, with brightly coloured leaves with words on. She probably couldn't care less about the strip lighting. She definitely doesn't care that her classroom walls are the most hideous bright pink colour - I have questioned her about them, and she looks at me like this Personally I think they are hideous. I'm pretty sure they weren't that colour when DS1 was in Y6. I think the teacher he had would have taken a tin of pain to the walls to calm the class down. They were a special class, indeed-

But it is possible to have a compromise. If I can acheive it at home, it can be achieved in the classroom. I've sometimes wondered if there is a market for classroom design/displays. Maybe I could set up my own little business.

But odeon do lots of autism friendly screenings where lights are up & noise levels kept reasonable.

My two have never needed them as theatre /cinema is their 'thing'

And what about the children/people for who film/theatre is their 'thing' but who nevertheless have sensory hypersensitivities?

Is the passion for the arts supposed to over-ride the Autism somehow?

I agree a compromise, I do think that the displays have a vital part to play but agree that moderation is best

Sorry I'm confused gooseberry.

I was saying that these screenings (& the various relaxed panto/west end show performances are available & that's a good thing.

My children ds in particular has various sensory issues but for some reason both he & dd thrive in a traditional theatre environment so we have never needed to attend these special showings.

I don't see why that is wrong.

And unfortunately ds's school seem to think that because he has no problems performing as the lead in his school play that he is 'choosing' to be ok when it's sonething he enjoys & is also 'choosing' to be disruptive (meltdown) in a busy, stressful classroom)

You said your DC have never needed special screenings ^as theatre /cinema is their 'thing'.

I can't make head nor tail of that. Sorry.