Stylist helps autistic boy conquer his fear

Patrick Boyne was not quite 2 years old the first time his parents took him to get a haircut. It was a nightmare. “He couldn’t sit still in the chair. He didn’t like the scissors. He didn’t like the contact. He didn’t like the noise,” Patrick’s mom, Amy Boyne, said. “Keeping him in the seat, I actually had to hold him down, and my husband had to help.” Patrick wasn’t throwing a typical toddler tantrum. He’s autistic, and the haircut was more than he could handle that first time -- and for more times after that. But this isn’t a story about how scary it can be for a child with autism to do everyday things, although it can be. And it isn’t a story about how the parents of those kids have to deal with the stares of strangers because of their children’s atypical behavior, although they do. This is a story about how a hairstylist named Sarah treated Patrick with love and kindness and understanding over and over for as long as it took to make him comfortable. Because that’s exactly what Sarah Beiser Eaton did.