Maria Vescio didn’t run away last year when her parents took her Christmas shopping at the mall. Her dad is grateful for that.
It was during a special “quiet shopping hour” tried out by Town Center at Cobb. The program’s purpose was to do the virtually unthinkable: amid the busiest shopping season of the year, make the mall a calm place for kids with autism, for whom sensory overload can be debilitating.
This year the program spread to several other metro Atlanta centers — Lenox Square, the Mall of Georgia, Phipps Plaza and Sugarloaf Mills as well as Town Center — all run by Simon Property Group, one of the nation’s largest mall owners. Each set aside a quiet hour in the late morning or early afternoon last Sunday.
It’s just the latest example of steps to help families that have kids with autism take part in the kinds of activities that are common for others. In recent years, most local malls have begun offering sessions with Santa specifically for special needs kids. Several are scheduled in metro Atlanta malls later this holiday season.
The changes go beyond the holidays. More places are carving out times to make accommodations, including at Atlanta Braves games, some Chuck E. Cheese restaurants, movie theaters, museums, the Georgia Aquarium and performing arts productions.
Any place with haphazard crowds, loud noises, bright lights and humming fluorescents can be excruciating for certain kids with autism.
Mark Vescio has seen what his 10-year-old daughter faces. “I always describe it as the feeling that you are drowning and you can’t get out. You are helpless and the things surrounding you are harming you.”
“We learned the hard way that that doesn’t work so well in a crowded mall,” he said, even if Maria is wearing headphones to cancel out sound.
In a space packed with people moving in different directions, she would suddenly bolt.
And yet, she wondered about what she was missing out on that her friends go to do, her dad said. “Maria every once in a while says, ‘I just want to be a normal kid.’”
So when Town Center tried a quiet hour last year during the holiday shopping rush, the Vescios gave it a try. It worked. “It was good to see her smile through that process,” Maria’s dad said.
The mall picked an hour early in the day, before many shoppers had arrived. It gave retailers recommendations from the Marcus Autism Center about how to limit triggers that might make the kids uncomfortable. Workers were told what to expect. They dimmed lights, turned off music, held off on vacuuming.
It lasted just an hour as the Marcus Center suggested, though Shelly Weidner, Town Center’s marketing and business development director, said the mall would be open to considering more time. About a third of the mall’s retailers participated last year. This year, about 40 Town Center stores participated. The mall also held a quiet hour for Easter shopping last year.
A mall without bright lights and piped in music?
“We can do without that for an hour just to make these families comfortable,” Weidner said. She remembered getting hugs last year from parents.
In 2011, Town Center was one of seven malls nationally where Cherry Hill Programs rolled out what it calls its Caring Santa program for kids with special needs. The company, which already provided traditional mall Santas and Easter Bunnies along with photo services, has since expanded Caring Santa to 581 locations around the U.S. and Canada.
The program is designed to make the Santa experience easier for kids with autism and their families. Nearby escalators and fountains are turned off. Waits in line are eliminated. And Santa often has more time to work with the kids.
A man who self-identifies as Santa and works shifts for Cherry Hill at Town Center, recalled getting a visit from twin boys who were focused on the Christmas décor and, in particular, a small fan. Santa got on the floor with them and pushed a button to make the fan oscillate. “The mother,” he said, “was crying. She said it was the best Christmas experience she ever had.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, about one in 59 children has been identified as having autism spectrum disorder. They can struggle with social skills and communication, though the CDC says nearly half have average to above average intellectual ability.
Ashley Mahoney’s son, Connor, used to have meltdowns when distractions became too great. At their worst he would fall to the floor, sometimes hitting his head against the floor. “I’d have to sit on the floor and hold his arms,” she said.
Sometimes other adults would ask her why she allowed him to act that way, apparently unaware he had autism. Connor is 12 now, and can communicate more before things get too overwhelming, his mom said.
Mahoney has taken him to see Santa for special needs kids at Town Center.
He’s also taken part in sensory controlled events at the Georgia Aquarium and at an Atlanta Braves game. They didn’t have to get in a line to enter SunTrust Park, they were seated in the shade and near a quiet area, with easy access to exits if being there got overwhelming.
Mahoney has noticed more and more offerings like that. “There’s not the stigma that there use to be. You want them to go out to experience the world, and the world is letting them experience it at their own pace.”
Kimberly Dick, the executive director of the Georgia chapter of nonprofit Autism Speaks, said she's noticed the change, too. Local chapters often provide online listings of upcoming events such as quiet hours.
“I’d love to see this continued for different activities year round,” she said, including back-to-school shopping.
Of course, technology is offering everyone, including parents of special needs kids, the ability to shop online and skip many stores. But Dick said it would be “a thousand times easier” to taker her son, who has autism, to the mall. While she can buy clothes for him online, picking colors he likes and avoiding buttons or tags he doesn’t, he’s likely to find some component he doesn’t go for, she said.
More everyday retailers may open their doors even wider.
In the United Kingdom, grocery chain Morrisons launched a weekly “quieter hour” for shoppers with autism, according to the BBC. In addition to dimming lights and turning off music, store workers turn down the beeps at check out for an hour every Saturday morning.
Some special needs holiday events at area malls and centers*:
* Reservations are often required. Check with the shopping centers to ensure event dates and times haven't changed.
Dec. 8:
— Santa Cares: Greenbriar Mall. 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
— Santa Cares: Arbor Place Mall. 9:00 am - 11:00 am
— Caring Santa: Town Center at Cobb. 9:00 am - 11:00 am
— Santa Cares: North Point Mall. 8:30 am - 10:30 am
— Sensitive Santa: The Battery Atlanta. 10 am - 12 pm https://batteryatlsensitivesanta2019.eventbrite.com
Dec. 15
— Sensitive Santa: The Battery Atlanta. 10 am - 12 pm https://batteryatlsensitivesanta2019.eventbrite.com
Dec. 22:
— Sensitive Santa: The Battery Atlanta. 10 am - 12 pm https://batteryatlsensitivesanta2019.eventbrite.com
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