Chapter 10: Sensory-Friendly Places

The next day, we all met up at the Carnegie Library in Squirrel Hill to talk about sensory-friendly places. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. We jammed out to NSYNC, 98 Degrees, Kate Bush, and Lizzo as well as the Pop2Kountdown from 2001 while playing games like Donut on a Rope, Sardines, Corn Hole, Murder in the Dark Game, and Nail Polish Spin the Bottle. "I think that parks are so beautiful to get married at," Carly stated. "That is where my mom and Freddie got married." "I miss your mother already," Freddie stated, holding back tears. "Not that churches are not great, but parks are the best," Spencer stated. "I love to go to all sorts of places in the Pittsburgh area for recreation, like Schenley Park, Frick Park, Kennywood, Sandcastle, the Jewish Community Center, the Waterfront, the list goes on," Alex stated. "It is fun to go to all of those places, too," Max agreed. "As for study techniques, I think that the best place to go is the library like where we are right now," Alex continued. "Yes, the library is a nice, quiet place to study," Justin agreed. "We even took our SATs in the library." "We just thought that it was a nice place to take them because there was less noise and we could concentrate better," Alex continued. "We can even celebrate holidays or special occasions anywhere that we would like to," Sarah added. "Molly's Sweet 16 party that Angel and I snuck into as kids was very noisy and crowded, and was not a safe place for us to be!" "That's because everyone was much older and you girls were not invited anyway," James pointed out. "On a more positive note, I liked handing out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters in my nice quiet house." "But, it became noisy whenever the kids arrived to get their candy," Henri pointed out, "and I couldn't even go with the trick-or-treaters to get candy." "I think you guys are all saying such great stuff," I agreed. "Sensory-friendly places can pop up just about everywhere- Game Day, spring and summer activities, our weekend activities, our own activities, the list goes on!" After the discussion group, we headed to Patron Mexican Grill in East Liberty for dinner. Then, it was time for all of us to go home. "Thanks for a great day, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Good night, guys!" "Good night!"