this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2025
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Autism

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First pumpkin (lemmy.zip)
submitted 3 weeks ago by Tower@lemmy.zip to c/autism@lemmy.world
9 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

My daughter is autistic and a teenager. She's finally getting old enough to grasp the concepts of holidays and be interested in participating. She loves SpongeBob, so of course picked out this design. She hated cleaning out the insides, mainly the smell. She tried for about 10 seconds then went and threw up, so I took care of that. Once I showed her how to do the outlines by poking through the paper, she did most of the rest. I helped cut some of the finer details out, but she did about 90% of the cutting. She was super proud of it and really enjoyed putting it out on the front porch.

It's really nice to see her progressing and enjoying kid things.

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[–] dumbass@aussie.zone 5 points 3 weeks ago

She hit the terrifying look well, imagine walking down a dark alleyway and you see those eyes and that grin running at you!

[–] BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

Look it's Pumpkin Bob Circleface!

[–] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

A great result and a lovely memory for her to keep.

If your daughter has trouble with smells maybe try an n95 mask. They reduce most odours enough to the make them more tolerable, so it can be useful to test that tool and see how much it helps.

[–] Tower@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks for the tip. She's gotten much better about smells making her gag over the years, so I was a bit surprised at how much of a reaction this got. I think it may have been because she stuck around and tried to power through, rather than stepping away like she can do with other stuff.

[–] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Could it also have been the texture of the insides of the pumpkin? Was she wearing thick gloves? I know a couple of people who would find that specific texture awful. That said, knowing she can step away is good, being reminded at the first sign of trouble can help, but ultimately she will have to learn her own limits and learn how to assert them. This is a great situation to learn from and practice that skill.

[–] Tower@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, she had dishwashing gloves and a scooper.

[–] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Fantastic, the dishwashing gloves are an absolute winner. If she finds something they aren't good enough for consider a second set of gloves inside them, such as cotton gloves or disposable latex gloves. This further reduces sensation through the gloves and enhances the protection.

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 2 points 3 weeks ago

I can empathise. Pumpkin is a particularly strong flavour/smell, and even today I cannot stomach pumpkin soup.

Glad she was able to recover and finish the design. It's an impressive (suitably creepy and terrifying) result.

[–] ideonek@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago

You both should be proud.