Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Maggie.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: And I'm Nicole. Welcome to the DAC Dyslexia in Coffee Podcast. We're so happy you could join us. We're both moms and dyslexia interventionists who want to talk about our students and children. What dyslexia is, how it helps our kids, strategies to help and topics related to other learning disabilities will also be covered in this podcast. Parents are not alone, and we want to give voice to the concerns and struggles we are all having.
This is a safe place to learn more about how to help our children grow and succeed in school, in the world. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the conversation.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Hi, everybody.
So we're going to start today's episode like we do every week with the concept of the week. Concept of the week is our opportunity as practitioners to kind of peel back that curtain and let everyone into an intervention session. So we like to teach about topics we would be talking about with our students or with their parents who come to see us. So today's concept of the week is emotional dysregulation.
This is the overwhelming state where a child's emotions and behaviors are more intense and harder to manage than what the situation would call for. Right. So instead of like a run of the mill tantrum being kind of simple, outburst can become that full body meltdown. Seems out of control.
This happens because. Right. The brain stress response system is activated. So now that child is in that fight, flight or freeze mode when the situation really isn't called for.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: Correct.
So welcome to episode 60 to ADHD and Halloween.
Oh, boy. This should be a fun one, guys.
So Halloween can be a fun and memorable time. Yeah. But for children with adhd, it can bring extra challenges, especially like with regulation transitions and overstimulation.
As a parent, it can feel very overwhelming trying to navigate this time of year when it seems like everyone is having fun.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
The kind of joke when we were planning for this episode was I think this episode should actually be called October is the Worst.
Like, actually, it's not fun at all.
I am here to be the Halloween Grinch for this episode, which really stings for me because I actually do think it's fun.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: And I love Halloween.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: I do too. It.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: But. But it's different now that we're parents.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: It is rough.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: It's very rough.
So why is it rough, Maggie?
[00:03:01] Speaker A: I mean, I think one of the reasons it can be really tough when. When you are raising kids with ADHD or really any neurodiversity.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Right.
Just the sensory stimulation and Just the overall overload of it.
For example, costumes.
This was supposed to be fun.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: Yep.
Unless your children are sensitive to scratchy fabrics.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Or masks or face paint.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: You know, I think some kids, too, Right. They change their minds about a bajillion times on their costumes.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: Right.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: And then you're, like, scrambling to try to accommodate them.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: That's a pain.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: It is. It is.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: That's a pain.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Mm.
So, I mean, one thing you can do is let them try on costumes in advance. And you. Just for the comfort. Right. You take the soft layers underneath. You have to build them up.
Remove tags. Always remove tags. You don't have tags in any of our clothing.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: No, no.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: And show. Choose maybe more simple outfits. Because the more complicated it is, it's usually.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: More stimulated.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Right. Some kids really just have very specific and sometimes unrealistic expectations about their costumes and getting them to kind of live in that reality of, like, that is just.
I don't know about you, but in my home, that is not a reality.
It's, you know, a budget concern. Right. I am not buying these intricate pieces that you're probably not going to wear or you're going to lose or it's just going to be used as a weapon somehow. You know, even things that you would never think could be used as a weapon are used as a weapon.
Oh, my gosh. Story of my life right now.
But it can be really difficult. And then I think in where we live, Right. We are just a reminder to the listeners, we are in southeastern Wisconsin, so anything goes at Halloween. We have had Halloweens where it is 75 degrees, beautiful, sunny, hot for us this time of year.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: And then we've had three feet of snow and everything in between.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: We never know. So even with a lot of advanced preparation on costumes, most of the time our kids are, like, wearing their winter jackets either over or under or under their costumes. And it becomes.
It becomes kind of just this whole thing, you know? And some kids who have, like, this so specific idea of their costume, like, they will refuse to wear.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Their coat. And then it's this whole big argument.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: Before we've been able to have any of the fun.
So frustrating.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: And I know this hasn't happened to you yet because your daughter's a lot younger.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: But when you get to the preteens and the teen years, unfortunately, the costumes are. I'm gonna just say it. They're slutty. Yeah, they're slutty.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: They are so skimpy and inappropriate for children. It's not even Funny.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: And then trying to explain why they can't wear that becomes a problem.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: A big problem.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
I mean, I even experienced this, like, as a kid. I have just always been a person that is like, no thank you to anything. Like Skippy, scratchy, too short, too, like, don't like it. Just my personal taste. I don't appreciate it.
So just like, run. Just regular, like, outside of just costumes, just the regular clothes are so difficult to find something that everyone could be okay with wearing. I. I remember going, you know, 10 rounds with, like, my dad growing up, and he's like, what are you wearing? I mean, dad, if you would like to accompany me to the. The store and find out just how difficult it actually is.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Yeah, please do. There's stuff that's worse out there.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Very, very much. And it just. It's all like. I think every parent experiences this to some degree, and then it's just turned up to a million when you have any kind of neurodiversity going on.
So. Correct.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Rough, rough.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: I think a secondary theme to this episode is like, we hear you.
[00:08:01] Speaker B: We're here.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: We're trying to navigate this ourselves.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: So another thing that happens around Halloween, right, is the environment changes.
Trick or treating has crowds, loud noises, there's flashing lights, unfamiliar houses.
It becomes sensory overload very quickly.
So you have to plan breaks, do a quieter route, help them regulate. Maybe they sit in the car for a minute, but they're so excited that this is really tough.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: This is really tough.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: And our daughter, our oldest, she likes to cute Halloween stuff, but the scary Halloween stuff is not a good thing for her.
So obviously, everybody decorates very differently. So thinking about how much that goes over and over in her head, we have to also be careful with that.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: Yeah. And also I am right there with her.
I was just having a conversation yesterday with another, you know, parent, and maybe it is just me because I am looking through it as a lens of a mom of two pretty young kids. Right. I mean, my kids are five and seven, so, you know, know, not toddlers anymore, but still little kids. Right.
And just the amount of just really scary and kind of gory yard decorations.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Then having to explain what they mean. Yeah, yeah. That's always fun, too.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: It is always fun.
I. Last year in particular, we had a house in our neighborhood that was like a big, very political display because it was an election year, and it was a very graphic depiction of one candidate being urinated on by a skeleton.
That was a dog.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: It was.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: That is so weird, like, disturbing. Yeah. And then of course, because one of my kids does have ADHD and like will perseverate on things.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:23] Speaker A: It was all he really could discuss.
And it was really hard because it was the house directly across the street from us. So there was no escaping.
Was just there all the time.
And it was undesirable, to say the least. Yeah.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: No, I agree.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: It's all.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: It's tough.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: It's tough.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: And we did kind of plan our route to avoid that house.
But of course then there's like those questions too, like, why are you doing that? And all the things. And it's hard.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: It is hard.
So another thing, big reason why this is a tough month is routines and traditions. Right. And transitions are different this month. Right.
[00:11:14] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: You know, Halloween disrupts bedtime, regular evening routines, which can dysregulate kids with ADHD and other.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Big time. You know, and it's not just.
It also feels like to me, kind of everything is accelerated.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Again, I think this could partially be because I am the stage of life. I am. Right. Like I've got little kids. I'm really in the trenches. All the elementary school parties, all of the.
There's a trunk or treat, like every week, every weekend.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: I mean, when.
At least my memory of it. Right. When I was growing up, we had our trick or treat in our neighborhood.
We had a party at school. You know, you wore your costume to school and you got a little classroom party.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: Although I saw some 80s costumes the other day and I was like, how did we walk around in those masks? There's like these really tiny little holes.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: Little tiny holes.
And like just straight plastic masks. Alley flavors. No.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: How did we do that?
[00:12:24] Speaker A: You know, and just. And you had like three options.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: You know, you could be whoever was popular that year.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: That's right. Like, I mean, you have to be like a princess, a Ninja Turtle or a Power Ranger. And that was it.
There was not a. There were. The expectations, I think were different.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: And they are mostly plastic, right?
[00:12:48] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, mostly plastic. I mean, very uncomfortable. Not great costumes. I'm not advocating that we go back to that stage.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: No. But they were also cheap.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: But they were cheap. And I, you know, sometimes it is like I try to temper expectations in my own house a lot. I actually do think that's a strength of mine as a parent. Like, I am pretty upfront with my kids. These are the things we are going to do and these are the things we just are not doing. Because to be honest.
No, we're not going to be Invited to a trick or treat in somebody else's neighborhood. And I said, you know, no, we had a trunk or treat this past weekend. As we record this, it is mid October, and we had already gone to one trunk or treat.
And then we will trick or treat in our neighborhood, and that is it.
And I.
I tend to not play ball with the. Okay. We have to do all of the things I pick and choose for my family most of the time.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
So how can we help our kids with this? You know, visual schedules or verbal walkthroughs of what we're gonna do. Like, we're gonna have dinner, then we're gonna put on our costume, go trick or treating, come home, do the fun candy. Sorting that.
As a parent when I was a kid, that wasn't a big deal. I just wanted them to get it done.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: As a parent, it's really hard because you have to throw things away that are open that you would.
You know what I mean? Like, that's such a hard thing because, you know, it's probably okay, but you're not gonna do.
[00:14:35] Speaker A: I'm not even entertaining that.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: And then it's time to go to bed. And they're ramped up on candy and the energetic of running around the neighborhood and seeing their friends outside at night and.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Because our neighborhood does it on Halloween.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: So do we always. Which this year, good news, it's on a Friday.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Yes. So that's actually really good for us. But that's not normal.
So then they have to go to school the next day. So you have to throw them in bed and hope they go to bed.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: Yeah, pretty much this year. I mean, good news, it's on a Friday. Bad news, it will be my problem Saturday and Sunday, when they're still dysregulated because they were up on Friday.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Exactly.
But.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: I do walk my kids through kind of that routine of, this is what we're gonna do. This is when it's gonna happen.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: And you're going to the bathroom before we leave the house.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: So we don't have to run through the whole neighborhood to get back.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:15:41] Speaker B: I have one that never fails. We've done it for four years in a row.
I'm like, what?
What?
[00:15:50] Speaker A: Me too. I bet it's the same one I'm thinking of.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: Yes, it is.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: Probably they forget.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Right. They get distracted.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: You know, and something, too, is like keeping as many elements of the usual routine as possible this time of year is really important. It is.
It is fun to have fun. It is but you have to keep it within reason.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: You know, we're really strict about bedtime the days leading up to trick or treat, and very strict about it after trick or treat.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Fine, we'll stay up the one night.
But oh, man.
All bets are off if it's multiple nights in a row.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Correct.
So impulse controlled candy. Maggie, why don't you take that one?
[00:16:52] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
Yeah. So fun fact about my 7 year old, when we had him tested for ADHD, he was in the 99th percentile for impulsivity.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure we'll get in there.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: Yeah. 99th.
That's real high.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: Very high.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: Yes.
Being able to control himself at all is really, really high. Like, very, very difficult. And the idea of, like, collecting candy could just. It just heightens the whole thing.
If he's allowed to, like, grab things out of a bowl, it's like grabbing a whole handful, you know, My big thing for him is like running ahead on trick or treat. He struggles so hard to stay with the group. And he really is an age that you have to stay with me. You have to be part of the group that's traveling together.
It's really hard because I am trying to give him a little, little bit more independence. But he does not understand time and place.
So on a regular basis, when we're just taking a walk as a family and it's daylight and it's daylight and we're in our own neighborhood, which we always just trick or treat in our own neighborhood.
But the volume of people around and the fact that it is dark out, he does not understand that that means the. The rules are different and that means you must stay by an adult.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: Yes. We have the same problem with Wilson. And he will also. He has no concept of. Maybe I should look for a car.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
Not when there's so many other factors right around. Around distracting him.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Then you turn around and he's got a piece of candy in his mouth and you're like, I hope that was close.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: I know. And it is hard because really, I'm pretty lucky. Neither one of my.
They are excited about the idea of getting and collecting candy.
Once we have it, they're excited for a couple of days and then they just kind of don't care about it anymore.
So I am. They are kind of both like that.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: Mine are excited until they're all gone.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: Yeah, we luckily don't really have that end of it, but it's just.
Okay, then why are we collecting it all in the first place?
You're not Gonna care about it in four days.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: We have the opposite problem, and they care too much. So we have to sometimes skim and hide.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: You know, one of the things that we try to do our best on is just set those very clear expectations ahead of time.
You know, how many pieces of candy can we have tonight in our house? It's just three. Like, that's just the arbitrary number I made up the very first time we went trick or treating. And that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
Where will you store the rest of the candy? That's a good question.
We actually put them in gallon Ziplocs and then put their names on it so that they know whose is whose.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: Because we've had problems in the past where they didn't know.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: It's a problem.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: I am the mean parent that. It goes in one bowl, and that's the end of it. Sorry, kids. You get to pick out your, like, three favorites that night, and then I'm done.
It goes in one bowl.
That's the end.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: Our houses are different, but we have different reasons.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: Right, exactly.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: So when you have three, it's a little different. And especially their ages are. They're older, so they feel that they're their own stuff. Right. That's their stuff.
And we're trying to really help them learn that they can't take their siblings stuff. So that's why we do it that way.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: And that's exactly. Like, different houses tackle this differently. Correct.
And I think it's really important to have, like, okay, this is what we do in our house and think about that ahead of time. So you're not trying to, like, change the system on them midway through.
Speaking to my own self here. Right. Raising my hand that I've done that to my kids a million times. Right. I've changed the game on them in the middle of the game, and then that causes all this kind of frustration. But having a plan ahead of time where, like, in your house, it's three bags and they all have their names, and that's the system. And in my house, it's one big bowl. Yep. Both work for our own houses, which is why I love having this. This conversation on podcasts. Right. Because.
Yeah, what works for me doesn't always work for you, because every kid is different.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah. You know, and just kind of that balance of giving them autonomy, which is really important, but also encouraging that sharing aspect, you know, and just deciding, you know, if it's just you, if it's you and a spouse you know, how are you going to tackle that and how are we going to be on the same page with each other? Yes. Because why can they divide and conquer?
[00:22:47] Speaker B: Yes, they can.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: You let them.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: This next one is pretty big for us. Safety and supervision.
Obviously, you know, children with adhd, they have decreased impulse control. Right.
Their safety aware awareness is not at peer level.
Typically that frontal lobe executive functioning thing, problem solving, those type of higher level things, they're just not there yet.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: No.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: So and Halloween unfortunately brings up a lot of safety concerns for a lot of families because of that.
Right. They dart across streets, there's cars, they don't look.
They may wander off because they, they're not paying attention to where they're at or where their parents went or where their siblings are at.
They get distracted easy sometimes. Oh, there's a dog over there. I'm going to go pet the dog. And then they're across the street before you even know.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's hard because it's in the dark.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: You know, our listeners know this. I mean, just me personally, I am a person with very low vision and it's way worse for me at night. I mean, I have trained my kids from tiny.
Even Aiden, who struggles with this, like, no, you have to stay close to me because of all of these reasons. Right.
It's much harder for him to manage that on a night like Halloween.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: But you know, I mean, I have a rule for myself. Like I don't take them out on trick or treat by myself.
Even.
He's not on third shift anymore, but my husband used to work second and then third shift. So I was alone on Halloween and I would make someone come over and help me because there was just no way I was taking them out by myself. It's just not safe. So really thinking about the things like that are no go for you and then building your routine around that. Correct.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: So like having another trusted adult or an older buddy to stay close to them.
You know, glow sticks are fun because then you can see them and they think it's part of the night so.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: They get excited about it. I mean, who doesn't love a glow stick?
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Right?
[00:25:13] Speaker A: I still like glow sticks. I still like glow sticks. They're amazing.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: Reflective tape is also something you can do. Other bright things that you can get for visibility so you can see them especially like in certain colors where, you know.
[00:25:27] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: Oh, that's my kid over there.
[00:25:30] Speaker A: Yep.
Like, oh, I know that one.
Yeah. Those are all really good tools.
[00:25:39] Speaker B: Yes, definitely.
And then comes the social skills and Emotional regulation, which is also part of this. Right?
[00:25:50] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: Costumes, obviously, emotional regulation is. We have already kind of discussed with that. But like, unexpected scares, you know.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: Can send emotions all over the place.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: And what one kid thinks is appropriate is not the same as what the next kid thinks is appropriate. Right.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: So.
[00:26:16] Speaker A: You know, what one kid thinks is funny, another one think is really scary.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: You know, and a topic that comes up over and over with my older kids that I see here in the summer is kind of the idea of, like, group costumes.
Someone's always left out, you know, like a lot of. I mean, I'm a little bit over generalizing here, but a lot of my, like, preteen and early teen girls, they like to go as a group and they like to have a group costume.
And there is inevitably one person only left out of it either on purpose or on accident. Right. Trying to give lots of people lots of grace here, but that can bring up some extremely raw feelings. And it tends to be the kid with the neurodiversity that's either getting left out completely or just kind of misreading the situation. And that's really, really hard.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: Right.
Because there's a lot of social skills that Halloween you need for Halloween. Right. Because, you know, there's a lot of peers to interact with the conversations, being able to be able to share. You know, there's different things that come out of Halloween, so you can help by maybe trying to role play or rehearse certain things that may come up. Like if somebody jumps out at you, what to do.
Somebody ran out of candy. You know, that's a big emotion our kids have. What are they gonna do? Hopefully not do anything.
[00:28:01] Speaker A: Not appropriate.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: Costume malfunctions.
You know, give them tools to respond to these things ahead of time.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
You know, have some kind of verbal phrase or signal to your kids, like when it's time to make a transition to something else. Right. Or like, I feel like calm down is so overused.
And also, it's not going to happen, guys.
Right. It's just. It's not going to happen.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: Maybe a break from the sensory overload.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: You know, take a break, take a.
Take a lap, take a breath. Something like that.
Some kind of, you know, could be verbal, maybe even a nonverbal cue.
That is something you have to plan in advance. This is like, I feel like Halloween and trick or treat is like the most advanced level of emotional regulation.
Right. Like, all, like going back to our summer series. Right, right. All of those things are like, prevention.
This is like, you Kind of have to already have a lot of your routines in place and like unlock for your kids before you go trick or treating. That is not the night to roll out a brand new thing that you're trying.
[00:29:30] Speaker B: Yeah, it's not going to work.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: It's not going to work.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: And no one to call the night. Right. Yes, it's okay to opt out early or modify the activity. Somebody's getting overloaded. Maybe go a shorter route or maybe leave the Halloween party early.
And you know what, Passing out candy at home can just be as much fun.
[00:29:49] Speaker A: Yeah, maggots love to do that. Especially they love to do that. And our listeners will know I am a big fan of this one and I use it often.
I either preventively opt out of things because I know it's not gonna be best for us or I say, you know, we're done.
I am kind of lucky. In our neighborhood we have kind of two like concentric circles almost like you can kind of do. We call it the inside loop, the outside loop.
So like we could do the inside loop which is pretty small and that's usually what we do.
And then we're done, you know and we, we just kind of say that we're doing the inside loop and then we're done tonight.
You know, Aiden's already like, I want to do the outside loop for trick or treat. And I said we can try it but we're going to do the inside loop first.
And then we're going to, you know, have that plan B in pace. Right. If things are going well, we can do the outside loop. But if things are not going well, we're going home.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: Yep.
So and prioritize their regulation over doing it. All right. Because you want it to be positive. That builds their confidence for future events.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: So some additional supports. We use these all the time.
Noise canceling headphones for loud environments.
All of our kids have it.
We bring them everywhere. We have them in our cars, we have them in the bags. They have them everywhere.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: You know and I think sometimes those are really good. Even as a preventative. Right. Like so even before you get to something loud, like sometimes having that time of where it's a little deprivation beforehand kind of helps them easy in to that.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: Fidget tools in your packets for walking or when they're waiting in line for trick or treat.
[00:31:52] Speaker A: Something to do with their hands. Let's not push their sibling.
[00:31:58] Speaker B: And maybe some visual timers to help with transitions between activities.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: You know, that's a big one. Or even just in our house it's just our regular calendar. Right. This is how many days we have. And then we have kind of a whiteboard too of if we need to break it down by. This is what's happening today.
We can do that.
[00:32:25] Speaker B: So what's happening outside dyslexia?
[00:32:27] Speaker A: Okay, so I thought this would be fun since this is our topic.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:32:31] Speaker A: Okay. So today's outside of dyslexia because I kind of feel like we just trashed Halloween.
Kind of feel like we were the Halloween grinches.
[00:32:45] Speaker B: Sorry.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: And I do genuinely like Halloween and think this is fun. So what I thought would be fun outside of dyslexia today is talking about our favorite memories of Halloween. So Nicole, what is a favorite memory of Halloween for you?
[00:33:02] Speaker B: I think when I was younger we would go to my grandparents house for Halloween.
[00:33:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: Because they did it the weekend. During the weekend.
[00:33:10] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Yeah. So it was laid out and you could go by yourself and I was always by myself. And there it was just a lot of fun because we would, all the kids would go by themselves and we didn't have a parent around and it just made it so much more fun. Even though we didn't do anything, it was just.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it was just.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: It felt like you were free.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: Yeah. It was the freedom. I. Yeah, I, I agree.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: I agree.
[00:33:39] Speaker A: My favorite Halloween memory is that this is the time of year I do. Like, I love carving pumpkins because my grandpa's birthday was around this time of year. His birthday was October 20th and he had this huge garden and his favorite thing to grow was pumpkin pumpkins. And he was always like so proud when we would pick out pumpkins from his garden. And then we would usually carve them over at my grandparents house. So that just always reminds me of like just fun, like very light hearted.
That's. That's my favorite. I think that's why I really do love this time of year. Like really good childhood memories there.
[00:34:27] Speaker B: So what is your favorite Halloween candy?
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Oh, so easy. Peanut MM's. Done.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: I'm plain M and Ms. By the way.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: Oh no.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: Anything that's chocolate.
I'm not sure why I can eat them separate but I don't put them in chocolate.
[00:34:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Peanut M&M's favorite. The end.
[00:34:45] Speaker B: Mine would be plain M and M. So easy. So easy. What was your favorite costume?
[00:34:49] Speaker A: Ooh. Okay. So my favorite Halloween costume was I was Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie one year.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: Oh, fun.
[00:34:57] Speaker A: I loved that costume so much. My aunt made me harem pants.
And then also like the little vest.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: That she wore. And she bedazzled it, and then she made me this, like, headpiece where I. I always had a high pony, Always.
So, you know, stuck my high pony out, my little headpiece, and it had, like, the, I don't know, chin strap. I don't know what to say.
Or the fabric kind of draped down. And I loved it. And I would do her little.
You know, her little. Where she'd, like, cross her arms and do the little wink.
I was oddly obsessed with that show. Like, I loved it. And I was Jeannie from my dream and Jeannie one year, and I loved it.
What about you?
[00:35:51] Speaker B: So I was a roller skater one year, and I actually wore roller skates, which I don't recommend, actually, for trick or treating because there were stairs.
But it was kind of fun because I could go a lot faster.
[00:36:02] Speaker A: Yeah. You're like, I'm the one.
[00:36:05] Speaker B: I'm going. I'm going.
[00:36:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: See?
[00:36:08] Speaker A: So we ended on a high note.
[00:36:10] Speaker B: There we go.
[00:36:11] Speaker A: We trashed it a little, but also, it is fun.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: It is a lot of fun. Yes.
[00:36:17] Speaker A: So thank you, everybody, for listening.
Please follow us on social media and reach out if you have any questions or you would like us to discuss a topic. If you do like our show, please be sure to give us a rating on your favorite podcast players. This is how we reach more listeners, and then we get to help more families. Thank you, everybody.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: Thank you.
