HEARTism makes autism sensory calming kits

Dec. 30—A Corvaillis fire inspired a solution that will help children with autism anywhere handle the trauma of an emergency.

HEARTism (Healing Arts for Autism and All Abilities) made 125 autism sensory calming kits for use by first responders from Sula to Florence to help children with autism in emergency situations thanks to Ravalli Electric Co-operative and their Power of Change initiative.

On Dec. 16, 100 of the kits went to law enforcement cruisers, ambulances and fire trucks. Another 25 went to families associated with HEARTism and a few families with special needs who reached out HEARTism director Jessica Fitzpatrick.

The HEARTism Community Center is the home of Bitterroot Arts for Autism that serves families and their children with special needs through arts, education and socialization. Above the center is the home of founder Fitzpatrick and her 16-year-old daughter Sequoia who has autism and sensory processing disorder.

During the early morning hours of July 6, a fire gutted the four-plex apartments next door to the Fitzpatricks on Main Street in Corvallis.

"At 2:15 a.m., Sequoia and I awoke to pounding on our door and first responders yelling 'GET OUT," Jessica Fitzpatrick said. "I didn't have time to grab anything. We left here without our shoes on."

She explained that with autism, anything out of routine is hard for her daughter.

"Especially leaving her cozy bed in the middle of the night," Fitzpatrick said. "Sequoia didn't want to leave and I had to show her the fire, then she wanted to put her shoes on. It was scary, I could feel the heat and hear the crackling. Once outside, we encountered many sirens and bright lights as four fire departments responded.

"We got in the car and she had noise-canceling headphones but I was such a wreck I didn't think to put them on her," Fitzpatrick said. "She was crying and melting down and emergency vehicles were showing up, it was chaos."

She said this experience showed a significant need for sensory tools to help people with autism and those with different abilities face emergencies.

"This is one kit, everything together and if there was an emergency you would be able to just grab it," she said.

Fitzpatrick explained that autism is a sensory processing disorder where children feel overwhelmed with stimulation. The kits have noise-canceling headphones to help with loud noises and sunglasses to dim bright and overwhelming lights.

"Those were two things that were really overloading that night," Fitzpatrick said. "With all the lights and sirens of four different fire departments showing up, an ambulance, police cars. It was loud, bright and chaos."

The kits have a chewy tube to help bring a calming, relaxing feeling.

"A chewy is really good at sending signals to the brain to help send calming signals to the body, same with the noise-canceling headphones and sunglasses," Fitzpatrick said. "They all just work on different sensory systems to help calm."

The kits also include several tactile toys used for calming and distracting from an emergency such as fidget toys that spin, squish, or click, A liquid timer helps shift focus more inward.

"It is a way to find your center and calm," Fitzpatrick said.

Having the sensory calming kits pre-made and available along with education on how to use them would help special-needs youth during an emergency.

Another fire in the nation happened after the Corvallis fire and Fitzpatrick took note of the similarities.

"The mother ran out with her family, but went back to get her son with autism, nearly the same age as Sequoia, but he wouldn't come out and they both died in the fire," Fitzpatrick said. "No EMS was there yet and she wouldn't go out without him."

Corvallis Fire Captain Amy May, representing the Emergency Services Department and Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital, also has a child with autism. May said the sensory calming kits will be of great benefit for the multiple departments of emergency personnel.

Fitzpatrick is hoping for more donations for purchasing more kits especially for other locations, such as schools.

"Ideally, each classroom would have one," she said. "They could use them as needed, daily."

Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton said the kits are a welcome tool for his staff.

"These kits are small, they fit in a car and we'll have them when we need them," Holton said. "Anything we can do to make people more comfortable, especially kids, especially in a traumatic situation. This is a good tool towards that. It is very cool of Jessica to do this."

His deputies take crisis intervention training to recognize the signs of autism but wouldn't hesitate to hand out kits to anyone in need.

Jennifer Weizel, board member of HEARTism, said the busy toys in the kits serve as tools to calm upset children. She said these calm the screaming and fast movements of a child with autism that can be reflective of the stimulus going on in a child's head during emergencies. Each kit will also have a seatbelt wraparound indicating the seat occupant has special needs.

The funds for the 125 autism sensory calming kits were raised by Ravalli Electric Cooperative members in their new Power of Change initiative.

"HEARTism is so honored that we were chosen to receive this funding and it means so much that the Power of Change program was willing to help us fulfill this project," Fitzpatrick said.

POC President Sarah Fryer said the board members were overjoyed to help with the sensory kit project.

"It was such a relatable story, if we can help even one family through a crisis such as Sequoia experienced it is worth it," Fryer said. "We hope to help many types of groups with the power of change program — even those who are not nonprofits. We are thankful to the REC members for supporting this program which helps our entire community."

Because HEARTism is a nonprofit project of Bitter Root Resource Conservation and Development, they were able to order kit contents in bulk and at a discount.

"It was super-fun to put the kits together," Fitzpatrick said. "It was exciting when the different boxes of toys would show up. I had a lot of help as our board put the kits together."

Fitzpatrick said the kits were inspired to prevent the experience of her daughter.

"We hope these kits bring relief and that they get utilized by whoever uses them," she said. "It doesn't have to be someone with autism. It can be someone in a mental-health crisis or a child that is upset in the middle of an accident. The kits are for anyone, but will greatly benefit people with autism."

For more information or to donate contact HEARTism at Heartism406.com.

___

(c)2020 Ravalli Republic, Hamilton, Mont.

Visit Ravalli Republic, Hamilton, Mont. at http://www.ravallinews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.