by Whitney Barthel posted in Parenting

When my husband sent me the story "Mom outraged over disputed TSA pat down of son with special needs" on Facebook yesterday, he included a message: "This is sick. The boy has special needs."

I started reading about the mom and her son with sensory processing problems with the assumption that I would be on her side. But by the time I finished, I wondered if my husband and I read the same article. Maybe he only read the headline"
Our 6-year-old son with Down syndrome, Daniel, has severe sensory sensitivities. He is so sensitive to textures that he is now just starting to eat solid foods besides pudding, spaghetti, and mashed potatoes. Don?t even get me started on the nightmare that is getting his hair cut. When Daniel becomes overstimulated, he is inconsolable and has major meltdowns that sometimes involve dry heaving and vomit.
So when I heard about this poor mother and her special-needs son who were forced to have a pat-down, I immediately imagined a boy sobbing while three TSA agents restrained him and one aggressively frisked him.
But then, I watched the video. And it was nothing like that.
The man calmly describes the procedure and neither the boy or his mother protests. Then the man gently pats the boy down. And while I do think the TSA agent might have been a little overly thorough, I don?t think anyone was crossing the line in this situation, even as a special-needs mother.
The boy is calm, albeit unc...