Survival Kit

Public bathrooms are scary for Luke.  There are a lot of loud sounds and echos in them.  He is the most afraid of automatic flushing toilets and hand dryers.  As we have to go into public restrooms sometimes, I knew I had to figure something out.  From friend's advice and from my reading about sensory processing disorder, I've put together a "public restroom survival kit" to get us through it.  It consists of hand sanitizer, flushable wipes, sticky notes, and some heavy duty ear guards (the kind used at a shooting range.)  

I stick the ear guards on Luke before we go into the restroom.  I put a sticky note over the sensor on the toilet to keep it from flushing, and Luke has been doing great.  Last week I talked him into letting me turn on the hand dryer.

I didn't get any pictures, but he even took off the ear guard before we left!  And since then he's been excited to see hand dryers.  This is AMAZING because 2 weeks ago, the sight of one made him freeze up or sent him running.

I'd bet you can figure out what flushy wipes are for.  And the hand sanitizer is because some bathrooms have sinks that spray and get Luke's shirt wet.  Since that is cause for a scene, we just use hand sanitizer in those restrooms.

And I love our survival kit.  My life has become SOOOOOOO much easier!