It recently took for 5 grown men to give Billy a buzz haircut. It was ultimate chaos that day. It was what he feared the most the clippers. There was about 10 of us one morning at my mothers house we told Billy he was going to get a hair cut. He yells "NO HAIRCUT" and then says "OK, OK CALM DOWN CALM DOWN". We got him to sit in the chair on his own but when the Buzzer started going he started to run. We held his legs, arms and head down. All While he was spitting, trying to kick them and he even used his toe nails to dig into the skin of those who were holding his legs down. I chose not to help because it was too painful to me to see him screaming and to see the tears stream down is red little face. I wanted to cry. At first I tried to help comfort him but he just looked at me like Auntie Kathy why aren't you helping me. It took about two hours to finish. They let him go once because he was to strong he had a Mohawk only half his head finished as he ran to put his hat on. We told him we had to finish all of us yelling at him to get back in the chair, and then the struggle began again. We did finish but that experience haunted me.

I got on the Internet and began to search as to why he was so scared of getting a haircut. When I came across an article written by Temple Grandin on the senses and how certain sounds for her were torture and how when her mother used to wash her hair and after her scalp would hurt her. I learned that many autistic children's senses are heightened perhaps even 5 times more than our own. Sight, touch and hearing. It all made sense to me I went into the bathroom and turned on the clippers and put them next to my ear to listen not a real pretty sound for my ears to hear. Perhaps Billy heard it differently than we did and the feeling against his scalp may have been overwhelming and even painful for him. That is why he does not like haircuts not because he was disobeying us or acting like a little spoiled brat by not wanting to do as he was told.

My older brother is a caring person and I know he loves Billy. But he tends to yell a lot and his voice is very harsh and mean sounding. After the haircut was finished everyone was yelling at Billy telling him to take a shower to rinse the hair off. He threw himself on the floor banging his head. I yelled at my brother and everyone else (and I never yell) to leave him alone for awhile that he has been traumatized enough. What it must have been like for him all ten of us yelling at him to do this and to do that. It was sensory overload for him he was angry frustrated and hurt. I printed the article out and made everyone of my family members read it. It touched them all and my Dad thought that we should even let him grow his hair long and wear a ponytail. My yelling older brother even agreed after reading the article who is often the one who says you can't let him get away with things he is spoiled and gets what he wants. That may be true sometimes but I want to tell him don't you see its not that he is "spoiled" he is autistic. I knew that his sensitivities might have been why he was acting the way he did but I never knew how much. I noticed other things that bother him. Like when the dogs bark he tells them to stop and makes them come in the house. Sometimes he likes to lick things, and he smells and touches my hair quite frequently.

The reason I wanted to share this story was because I wanted to encourage other families to educate themselves and other family members on autism. Because other people may act like they understand autism but they really don't all they see is a child misbehaving or a child who doesn't listen. They don't see or understand the world of autism any more than we do. The only people who know what it like to be autistic is autistic people themselves. People like Temple Grandin who can tell us now as adults what it was like as a child. They are able to tell us now because they have learned how to express themselves as adults or teenagers. I have learned the most about autism from people who are autistic. I am sorry Billy is autistic and will always be. No diet, medication or miracle therapy will ever change that. After that haircut was over I told him how handsome and nice he looked. He came over to me looked at me grabbed my arms still mad and scratched me and I said, "what did I do?" Of course he couldn't tell me. It was his way of telling me you didn't help me. Well I am going to try my best to help him now I will do my best to understand him and the world he lives in.