A barber soothes a child with autism by singing – and finds a new purpose (CNN)
Clippers buzzing, scissors clinking, men talking loudly in the talcum-scented air. It’s a comforting barbershop cacophony for most of the clients.
But for Jordie Rowland, it’s an assault on the senses. He has autism and his cries pierced through the other noises in the Brisbane, Australia, barbershop.
“You could hear his distress before you saw him,” barber Lisa Ann McKenzie told CNN.
Then, after two hard years of trying, the flailing child who couldn’t sit through a haircut calmed down when the barber sang his favorite song — “The Wheels on the Bus.”
With that breakthrough earlier this month, McKenzie emerged with a new purpose: a day at her shop reserved just for kids with special needs.