Netflix on the Ipad has taught me a little something about
my sons processing and the way his mind works. First off he will not watch TV
on the main family TV in the living room unless it’s AFV, then he is rolling on
the floor laughing for a full hour but anything else is out of the question. When
this began I had a difficult time understanding why he started to hate the TV
and would throw a tantrum if it was turned on at all but after watching how he
uses the Ipad, I get it now. It is the lack of control and if something comes
on the TV that is overwhelming, he does not have the power to stop it. He can
run away but he can’t make it stop. It is too much too fast and he cannot make
it stop.
When my
son watches Netflix on his Ipad he will watch your typical children’s shows and
some discovery documentaries. Lately it’s a Mickey Mouse marathon and last
night he refused to sleep so we grabbed the Ipad and crawled in bed to watch
some shows. I had control this time and that is pretty rare so started a
different Mickey Mouse cartoon I thought he might like. First he shields his
eyes when something is new and it’s not because of the new show itself, it is
more of a barrier for him to ease into it because he can still see it through his
hand. At this point I give him control because I don’t know if he will tolerate
the show or not and allowing him to shut it off makes a big difference in the long
run.
If you have used Netflix on a touch
screen you probably know just how much control a child might have over a show. He
can fast forward, start over, stop it entirely, and lately has added the subtitles.
What happens after he gets through the first step of shielding his eyes is when
I learned a valuable lesson about how he processes information. He will watch
the show right up to the point just before it’s overwhelming and start it over.
He has already processed what he is about to watch again and he gives his mind
a moment to regroup and rest. Then he will watch it again just past the point
he stopped it last time and begin it again. This goes on through the entire
show, just a bit more each time. Last night we watch a Mickey cartoon at least
15 times before we reached the end peacefully. Just a tiny bit more each time
he started it over and each time giving his mind a chance to process the new
before it became too much. I can actually watch his pupils grow while he
watches the next few moments of new and he tenses up a bit. The tense part is
just before he starts it all over again.
This is fascinating to me because it
speaks volumes as to how he is comfortable with new information coming at him.
A bit frustrating to because by the tenth time of starting over I was begging
him to watch it to the end but if I forced him he would have stopped watching
it completely or he would have gotten upset. It tells me why he rests in routine and why
changes are best eased in a little at a time and knowing that has made a huge
difference in the way I do things with him. It’s not always this way and many
times he can tolerate a big change but because of the way he operates Netflix I
understand that processing part of him that needs to back off and begin again
before it becomes too much to take in. A pretty awesome insight as the one who
is trying to understand without him having the ability to explain it to me. By
letting him do this he has been able to explain it without the words and for
that I love Netflix on the Ipad and his own ability to understand himself. He has
the ability to back off through this and process the information and that is
something the main TV doesn’t allow him to do. It is also why the main TV is
almost never on until he goes to bed. It’s located right in the middle of the
house and can’t be avoided when it’s on. This was not always an issue and only
began about 6 months ago, or you could say it might have been a problem and I
just had no idea until it intensified to a point no TV was the only option.
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