My nephew wakes up screaming and pointing his finger at something (or someone) in the dark. There is nothing there. My brother, the all-conference sports guy, feels the hair standing up on the back of his neck. My nephew isn’t the only one. My son also points to people whom I can’t see. When reading at bedtime, Connor once pointed and said “Look at all the peoples.” I corrected him “Honey, there aren’t any people there. Are you talking about people in the book?”
“No right there. Right in here in this room.” Of course there was no one. I am never sure what to say, so I usually give him a quick hug and suggest we continue reading and the people will go away shortly. After we finish reading, I turn off the light, say a prayer and lie down with him until he falls asleep. Once I know he’s in dreamland, I quietly tiptoe out of his room into my own bed. A few hours later, Connor starts screaming “MONSTERS!” and jumps into bed with my husband and me.
It used to scare me witless. On top of everything else, what if Connor was having hallucinations? Hasn’t he had enough? And in the wee small hours of the morning, I confess that my thoughts did turn irrational at times. I can recall leaving a rabbit’s foot, a couple of religious articles, a baseball bat and my car keys beside my bed while I stayed up all night listening for mysterious interlopers!
And then I finally had the courage to tell a friend, who happened also to be a psychologist, what was going on with our resident Ghosts and Monsters. She chuckled gently, then gave me the 4-1-1. She explained that many children, not just those on the spectrum, have sensory feelings that perseverate. (She also explained that the term perseveration means that sensations can last past the time of the initial stimulus…hence the root of the word is to persevere). In other words, Connor would wake up in the night and still have the feeling of my body lying next to his. When he couldn’t find me, he assumed that the feeling was caused by a terrifying and invisible monster!
