An SI kid and a drum set

Ever seen that commercial where the kid gathers items from around the house and sets up a drum set using boxes and lids to cookpots?

We had the similar event take place at our home, but instead of a 4 or 5 year-old, it was 10 year old Firstborn. You see, he has dreams of starting a boy band. He is very interested in the fame and money; especially the money part.

He has surmised that all good rock bands have a good drummer. So he went about the task of building a drum set. Gathering boxes of toys and round flat objects to use as the drum heads. Having seen the commercial (I think it is a PBS piece on using your creativity), I fetched my two metal cookpot lids from the cabinet and handed them to Firstborn.

You may think me crazy for this move, but you see, I know my son. While the kid in the PBS commercial made quite the racket with his cookpot lid drum set, I knew my sensory defensive son would do no such thing.

Instead he rapped gently on the lid with his long piece of K'nex. Then he jumped about 2 feet off his stool and landed on his back on the floor. He kept at it but at a very slow and measured pace. You could see the poor boy was extremely upset by the racket made by the pan lids. His whole body was tense. He seemed ready to jump back from the set with every thud. At least he had the sense to know that drums are loud. He didn't complain to me. He just kept on with his soft racket. Making as little noise with his set as he could muster.

So then the engineer in him took over. He assigned a letter value to each drum head and started notating how he wanted his little brother to play the songs they would feature in their "set." A-B-B-A-A-B-C-A. And so on. His piano teacher would be proud.

So if your sensory defensive kid wants to build a drum set out of pan lids, don't worry. If your seeker wants to do the same, build a soundproof room, because you will go crazy.