The Sound of Music

To some the sound of music is no sound.

The newsprint literally jumped out at me. A non-profit school serving children with multiple disabilities placed an uncommon advertisement in a local newspaper. The school sought the donation of tennis balls to soundproof the bottoms of chair and table legs. Certain populations within developmental disabilities are hypersensitive to noise. Noise is a distraction and an interruption of equilibrium. I never knew this until after I started to work with a special needs population. I never knew the extent of this until after I read this advertisement in the newspaper and took it to work.

I decided to now focus on the hearing world of my clients. If one can excuse the oxymoron of my applied compassion, I found that unexpected sounds like fire alarms, vacuum cleaners, trains, a baby crying, cell phone ring tunes, and the voice of strangers are irritating to a special needs population.

At a recent meeting for one of my clients, I accidentally scooted back my chair across the dusty tile. It made a grating noise. I looked to my client, whose limbs flailed in distress. Before the sun went down, I emptied my duffle bag of used tennis balls and donated them. So by proclamation set forth in Freudian Slips, let it be hereby known throughout this great land that balls without bounce have use for those who the bounce would bother.

Sometimes issues need to make headlines before one takes affirmative action in their own backyard.