1. Sensitive Santa Project Children with Autism often miss out on a visit to have a photo with Santa Visiting Greensborough Plaza or Eltham Mall is a common Christmas activity for most Nillumbik families. A myriad of triggers cause distress, including: long wait in the queue noisy, crowded environment bright lights and loud music This is best described in James’ story … 1

2. James’s Story 2 James is eight and he’ll tell you he doesn’t really like Santa. In fact, terrified is probably a better word to use. His parents managed one poor quality photo of James with Santa when he was just a baby and even in that photo he looks frightened. With James’ autism diagnosis his parents could start to understand where his terror came from. It comes from changes to his routine, feelings of being overwhelmed, his strong sensory responses to noisy, large crowds, bright lights and a very big fear of new or unknown things. You can understand that after several attempts at having a photo with Santa, each time ending in stress, tears and meltdowns, James parents had pretty much given up.

3. Sensitive Santa 3 If you ask James’ parents, they’ll tell you that in the grand scheme of things, a Santa photo is probably a small thing to hanker after, but it is one of those things that they felt was a childhood rite of passage, a memory to look back on and smile at and share with family and friends overseas. Last year a shopping centre advertised a new initiative called ‘Sensitive Santa’. It involved a specially booked one-on-one booked session with Santa for kids on the Autism Spectrum. It sounded worth a shot! James and his family attended a 20 minute private session with Santa in the early morning before the Christmas chaos of the shopping centre began. His parents did a little bit of preparation with James such as reading some Christmas stories, practising what he might say to Santa and watching some YouTube videos of other kids meeting Santa. The following photos hopefully say it all.

4. James and his family 4

5. Sensitive Santa in Nillumbik During December, Nillumbik Shire Council will be hosting the Sensitive Santa Project where families who have children on the Autism Spectrum can have their photo taken with Santa in the calm, sensory-friendly environment of our libraries. We have had some wonderful and generous people involved in the project so far. Nillumbik have partnered with Whittlesea & Banyule City Councils. Yarra Plenty Regional Library have donated the space at Diamond Valley Library, Watsonia Library and Lalor Library and are also coordinating the volunteers who will attend special training to be able to offer three ‘Sensitive Santa’ sessions. The photography will be managed by Diamond Valley Photographic Society (DVPS) who have generously offered their knowledge, expertise and equipment. The training will be delivered by Amaze Victoria and qualified staff from Diamond Valley Special Developmental School (DVSDS). The only thing the project is missing Is PRESENTS! 5

6. Support still needed We envisage that, by asking parents to complete a questionnaire about their child’s interests and potential triggers, we can gauge a real understanding of that individual child. This approach will help to make it possible for each child to receive a special and unique present making the experience even more meaningful and contributing to the opportunity to be repeated next year. I would like to conclude by showing you a short clip and am happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for listening. 6

7. ABC News (US) http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2011/12/0 5/sensitive-santa-meets-kids-with-autism/ 7