Me and my little monster had the pleasure of being invited to meet some lovely moms and kids today at SenseAbility Gym in Hopedale, MA. I was nervous about going, not because of who I would meet but because I could not predict how J might behave. However, looking back, I realize I likely never should have been.

SenseAbility Gym was conceived by people who get it. They have seen their own children struggle with sensory needs that aren’t easily met in typical environments. They are parents of the runners, crashers, bangers. They have the children who need the squeeze box, or who sometimes just need a room with dim lights and a cozy bean bag chair. They have taken the best elements of some of the local gyms for kids as well as some of the better pediatric occupational therapy or physical therapy clinics and brought it all together in a fun, clean, easy to access and easy to enjoy space. It is kid friendly and parent friendly, right down to the restroom having a changing table for those of us who have children still in need of one. 

I have taken J to places like Monkey Joes or Jump on In before, both to dramatic failure. This isn’t the fault of the facilities. Each of them are fun, bright, wild and fun for most children and for most children, I’d recommend going back again and again if you can. When you have a child with autism, sensory processing dysfunction or any other similar type of obstacle it is a place like SenseAbility that can not only give your child somewhere safe to just have fun but give you, their caregiver, somewhere to meet other adults who are dealing with what you’re dealing with. 

Thank you to Alysia for the invite and to everyone who attended for making our Sunday a great one. Little bear is sleeping like a log right now, hopefully having some good dreams about the fun he had with the boys today.