The unwritten rules of movie-going that Alice Worster had come to know — don’t talk above a whisper and sit still — were ignored during a Saturday screening of “Gnomeo and Juliet” at the Regal Cinemas theater in Cascade Park.
Dayna and Ken Worster didn’t draw sideways glances as 5-year-old Alice bounced from her chair to greet her late-arriving grandma or asked questions about the romantic goings-on of a pair of star-crossed garden gnomes.
“For her to go and be herself, it was nice,” Dayna Worster said after the movie.
Parents and children, many of whom have varying levels of sensory processing disorder, were treated to what Regal calls a “My Way Matinee,” a film showing characterized by lower volume, dim rather than no lighting, and understanding of occasional yelps and screams, even tantrums.
Alice suffers from epilepsy and attention deficit hyperactive disorder. She struggles with extreme darkness, sleeping at her family’s Rose Village neighborhood home with a lamp on in her room and a trickle of light from another in the living room.
Movie theaters, typically, are too dark and restrictive for her. But not on Saturday.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to all go to a movie since she was 3,” Dayna Worster said.
The Worsters were among about 200 people who packed into a theater at 10 a.m. Saturday for a modern interpretation of the William Shakespeare classic. There was a hum of chatter throughout the film and that was OK.
The showing was part of a trend of movie chains increasingly offering sensory-sensitive films, and growing recognition of sensory processing issues as a verified mental disorder. “Gnomeo and Juliet” was the first sensory-sensitive screening in Vancouver.
Regal is testing its “My Way Matinees” in markets throughout the country. Brandi Dyment, whose 6-year-old daughter Kimi has autism, contacted the theater chain in January and brought on Saturday more than the 50 people she was told were required to make a sensory-conscious screening worth Regal’s while.
“It’s been in my head for probably about a year,” Dyment said. “We went to a sensory-friendly Santa this year. She was able to focus on what we were there for instead of being over-stimulated by all the other things that were happening.”
The experience went so well Dyment became determined to bring a sensory-movie to Vancouver.
“We have had really bad experiences with her running out of the theater or laughing at inappropriate times,” Dyment said.
The adjustments to the normal movie experience made sure Saturday, such as with Santa, worked for Kimi. “It was great,” Dyment said.
Sharron Donnelly is an occupational therapist specializing in sensory processing disorder with clinics in Portland and Vancouver.
She said she was thrilled when she learned Regal was offering a special screening.
“A lot of our families with sensory processing disorder aren’t able to do the things other families can do,” said Donnelly of Advanced Pediatric Therapies.
She explained that individuals with sensory issues have trouble processing sights, sounds and smells. Movies and trips to malls can be particularly challenging.
Brain traffic jam
Many children at Saturday’s screening wore noise cancelling headphones to protect against uncomfortable volumes. When a child is hit with too much to process, “it’s like a traffic jam in the brain,” Donnelly explained.
That’s when kids flail and scream. “We did have a couple meltdowns (Saturday),” Dyment said, “but nothing like it could have been.”
Donnelly said there are a lot of misconceptions about sensory processing disorder, which is being considered for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
“Most children who have autism have sensory processing disorder. Not all kids with sensory processing disorder have autism,” Donnelly said.
The cause of sensory processing disorder is unknown, although pre-natal conditions, genetic history and environmental toxins are possible factors.
All six members of Jodie Nilsen Kotrlik’s family saw the movie on Saturday, including twin 7-year-olds Joshua and Kyle.
She said by phone earlier in the week, “Once you have a child with disability, you often do things like this because, 1) Your kid can’t handle it; 2) It’s often not socially acceptable for a kid who’s doing things out of the norm.”
During the movie, having stepped away from her seat, Nilsen Kotrlik said, “It’s a definite success. One of my boys likes to talk during the show and I keep having to remind myself, ‘It’s OK.’”
There were two rounds of applause when the show ended — one in response to an ending far happier than the original incarnation of the classic love story, and another for the theater that provided a venue for families that often feel outcast to be there to see it.
