A sensory-friendly night with Santa
Attending the Santa visit on Monday, Dec. 23, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., on the other hand, was a completely different experience. There was no loud Christmas music playing on the showboat and no lines.
By Justin Tiemeyer - Contributing Writer
31 Nov. 2024
Santa visits on the Lowell Showboat VI are always a big hit, enough of a hit, in fact, that families are willing to wait an hour and a half in the freezing cold for a chance at a photo opportunity with Santa. Judging by what you overhear in town, families typically walk away feeling like the experience was worth it: Bruce Doll takes fantastic pictures, there is no charge for high quality images, the turnaround time is swift, and it is possible to mitigate the worst of the cold, and the waiting, by leaving one family member in line, while the others warm up in the Chamber of Commerce building.
Attending the Santa visit on Monday, Dec. 23, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., on the other hand, was a completely different experience. There was no loud Christmas music playing on the showboat and no lines. Families showed up for ten-minute appointments, and Doll followed them from station-to-station for professional-quality photos with Santa, filling out letters, sitting on the sleigh, and looking in the Christmas mirror. It might look, on the outside, like these families had purchased the high-roller, luxury package, but this was actually a sensory-friendly Santa visit. Carrie Hoffman was the driving force behind the event. “When my son was born,” Hoffman said, “he was diagnosed on the spectrum.”
Her son has Asperger’s Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder that may manifest differently in different children but can lead to social difficulties, sensory sensitivities, and anxiety, especially during big events with crowds, lights, and sounds coming at you from every angle.
Informed by her experience with her own son, Hoffman set out to help people dealing with the same situation. This began with a sensory-integrative daycare, and in 2022, she organized a lights-up, sound-down movie experience with the help of Ada Lowell 5. Through her efforts she made the right connections, and they all led to the one-day sensory-friendly Santa event.
In the Chamber of Commerce building, Hoffman showed some of the additional things they had gathered for the event. There was a table of ornaments and fidget spinners that children could touch and use as an anchor. Because everyone’s sensory system plays into how they experience the world, items like these help children open up, as Hoffman said, “the windows of development” and combat anxiety.
Hoffman has a master’s degree in special education, and she believes many people miss out on just how intelligent many children on the spectrum really are, simply because they cannot always participate socially the way other kids do.
“Everyone plays a key part in our future and our society,” Hoffman said. In other words, if certain threshold needs of folks on the spectrum are met, their contributions to society would be amplified, and all of our lives would be better as a result. Hoffman noted a number of historical figures believed to have been on the spectrum including Albert Einstein.
One parent told Hoffman of a previous Santa visit. She had brought her son to see Santa, and they waited in line to see him for two hours. Once all was said and done, because of the sensory overload, her son did not even realize he had seen Santa at all. The sensory experience he had waited so long for was completely overwritten by the sensory experiences around him that he could not block out.
Hoffman shared another story, this time of a young girl who attended the sensory Santa visit. She had an iPad with her that she uses for her communication. She walked up to Hoffman, typed in “Thank you,” and then pressed play.
There is a popular acronym on social media right now called “IYKYK,” and it stands for “If you know, you know.” It is criticized, rightly, for being a means of gatekeeping, but there was a moment during the sensory Santa visit where the phrase’s, power of healing and community building, could be seen. While The Ledger interviewed Hoffman, she would look over at the families hanging out in the Chamber of Commerce building, and you could see this deep joy within her. “You get to see smiles on their faces,” Hoffman reflected. These are kids who might find it incredibly difficult to enjoy themselves in public, and maybe Hoffman saw something of her own son in their victories. “It gives me encouragement and hope.” If you know, you know.
The 2024 sensory-friendly Santa visit was a pilot thrown together by Hoffman, Doll, Jody Haybarker, and Callie Bliss. The team reached out to the schools and other groups who might know of people looking for an opportunity like this, and it was not advertised heavily. They wanted to try it out first, and from talking with Hoffman, it sounds like it will be a much bigger event in 2025. If Santa grants Hoffman her Christmas wish, there will be more time slots, a bigger team behind the event, and broader outreach, and not only that, but Hoffman also hopes an event like this will prompt others to have similar events.
