'Sensory friendly' movie a big hit with autistic kids in South Barrington

It may never win an Academy Award, but the movie "Hotel for Dogs" played to great reviews Saturday at the AMC South Barrington theater.

The Autism Society of America and AMC presented a screening of the film for children with autism and other disabilities at which the kids were free to be themselves.

Autism often makes children more sensitive to light and sound and leaves them unable to understand that other people expect them to sit still and be quiet during a movie.

But on Saturday in theater 16, the house lights were left half up, the soundtrack of the film was turned down and the kids were free to be themselves.

"This is Nicholas' first movie ever," said his mother Lorraine Henderson of Palatine. "When he goes to school and his friends are talking about a movie, he will be able to say 'I saw that movie, too.'"

Nicholas, 8, and his friend Ryan Guerrero, 9, are both students at Sanborn Elementary School in Palatine, where teacher Kristy OBrill learned of the event and went all in.

She sent out e-mail messages to all of her students' parents and encouraged them to come out for the 10 a.m. screening.

"We just thought it was a great opportunity," OBrill said. "We wanted everybody to be a part of it."

There was coast-to-coast opportunity for people to be a part of it Saturday, as the Autism Society and AMC held similar events throughout the country. Other local screenings were held at AMC theaters in Northbrook and Warrenville.

Ryan and his family arrived early enough to visit the snack bar before the movie and collected the requisite popcorn and soda before heading inside.

"This is just wonderful," his mother Cindy said. "We went to another movie and I had to keep taking Ryan in and out of the theater because I was afraid he was being disruptive, but today we can just relax."

And everyone did relax. While there was probably more sound from the audience during the movie than usual for such settings, it was not a distraction and everything went along quite well.

One boy was reluctant to join in on the fun and had to be gently coaxed up the aisle to his seat by his parents.

When he finally looked up at the big screen, Friday the dog was scampering down a sidewalk chomping on a hot dog he had swiped from an unsuspecting human.

The boy giggled, hugged his mother, and the world gained another movie buff.