As we painted the basement last summer, Jonah began whistling and announced that he was following along to the music in his head. I said, “music in your head?” He explained that he has an endless soundtrack going on his brain all the time and that’s why he constantly listens to music on his headphones. Listening to our conversation, Steve paused rolling out paint long enough to share that he also has an inner music soundtrack. 

Surprised by my questions, they asked, “didn’t I listen to music all day, too?” Uh, no. My brain is entirely silent. And I like it that way. 

Ian has always had a lot of auditory sensitivities, but when he was in middle school, he developed a new issue. He began screaming or shouting “NO” whenever he heard certain tunes — usually the theme music for old children’s shows. In recent years, he was able to explain that those tunes gave him ear worms, but I didn’t really understand and instead got cross at him for yelling at people. It is really hard to understand every odd autistic behavior.

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