Smell

I have heard dozens of versions of this story from other parents and from therapists. I have my own version from when from day when we were taking the family up to Disney World. Trent started acting up in the car as if he was going to be sick and the smell was overwhelming to him. I knew what was coming. I asked my son, Reed, to write down the mileage at that point when the smell was beyond upsetting to Trent. Four miles up the road I started smelling a skunk. One more mile (five miles further) Reed and Bethany Kay could smell the skunk and started complaining. By then Trent was in extreme pain. We did all we could to filter the air for him. Ten miles more and he was calming down.

Can you imagine how odoriferous the world is? So, many of these children cannot tolerate a church service. Well, think about it a minute. That’s the day the women have hair sprayed, perfumed, lotioned, and creamed themselves with all sorts of smells. The men are drenched in cologne and aftershave. To us, “normals” they just smell nice. But to children who are “noses” or hyper-olfactory, it seems like others are wallowing in scents of all kinds. The cacophony of smells is overwhelming and noxious to them.

There are those children who are hypo-olfactory. They can’t smell well at all. This can be disturbing as so much of taste is really the sense of smell. Also, smell is the most success of all the senses for tapping memories. Just as we have 1/100th the smelling ability of a dog, some children of autism have 1/10 or more the smelling sensation of their parents. Smells alert us to avoid things, to not eat certain foods, without that distinction guidance is necessary. But also think of the wonderful aroma of bread baking in the oven, or the anticipation we have for a slice of hot apple pie as it bakes.

There are therapies to help normal the child with hypo or hyper olfactory sensory abilities. We have been somewhat success with Trent, but our main strategy is avoidance. Several of the therapists understood this and would mandate that all patients and accompanying family members could not wear any perfumes or colognes when attending therapy sessions. The smells in the waiting room could trigger some children into fits that then would waste the expensive therapy session.

Even now, I have to monitor Trent and it his okay on any colognes or perfumes I use. For instance, I used to love a certain expensive perfume. Alan had gotten me a jar that cost more than $100. Trent didn’t like it and poured it down the drain. I’ve gone to use different creams or lotions to find that he had drained them and replaced the contents with water. Even shampoo and conditioner must meet with his approval. It may seem like pampering, but it doesn’t bother me to use cosmetics that he can tolerate and don’t cause him undo hardship or discomfort. That is what love is all about. 

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