for those with younger kids

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Just out of curiosity. Any time we go out to eat my 6 yr. old with AS always wants to hide under the table/booth-- but only if we are against the wall. If we are at a table in the middle of the room he has never done it. I am assuming that he is "sensory overloaded" and I allow it within reason. He says he likes to eat out and wants to go. I am just wondering if anyone else has kids who do this???

My youngest son did the same when he was 5 years in a small cafe. The table was against the wall and I felt it was most likely because it was new, unknown territory for him and he just wanted to be 'home', though like in any restaurant, sensory issues do come into play. He was very out of sorts there but had adjusted to and been fine in other favourite cafes/restaurants.

That's great that in your son's case he enjoys eating out. Maybe it would help to bring a small item from home to help ground him while sitting at the table. I used to bring along a small colouring in pad/notebook and crayons/or Thomas train etc and now, our son always keeps a piece of silk in his pocket to help ground him when away from home.

Cosy cubby-holes beneath tables are very inviting to a young child who has just made the transition from one known, safe environment to another that is visited less regularly too.

It sounds like your son is self regulating - his hiding under the table may be his way of regrouping instead of just having a meltdown or acting out. We generally only like to sit in booths at restaurants. My son does this also and I think there is something like being in a fort or a more secure feeling. I know in restaurants it is incredibly difficult to filter out all the noise. Once time we went out when I was really hungry and had an episode because I was overwhelmed by the sounds of all the silverware clicking and the glasses and the wall of noise from people talking. It makes it even more difficult if people are also talking at the table too if the restaurant is very noisy.

yes,I suspect it is his way of self-regulating. He is familiar with the restaurants that we go to (most of the time) so it is not like he is in "unknown territory" I just wondered if other AS/autistic kids did it too or if it was just a quirk of my son's. We allow it within reason like I said, I know we get funny looks from other people, you know, the "I can't believe they allow their child/children to behave that way" look. It's kind of funny sometimes because the waiter will take our order and such and he's there sitting with us and then they will come back with the food and they get this funny look on their face because they know there was another kid a minute ago. (we have 2 boys)!

In spite of his auditory sensitivity, my son normally stays topside even in noisy restaurants, but he'll crawl under the table if the waitstaff comes out to sing 'happy birthday' to someone. He loves recorded music, but he can't deal with live singing or instruments, hence our household ban on the 'happy birthday' song Unfortunately, we get no warning in the middle of a dinner out, so he dives under the table...

when our son was little, he LOVED playing under the table...my worry was always the dirty floor...guess that shouldn't have worried me~son came back up topside with quite a collection of gum !