Anthony sneezes more often than the rest of our family. Now that I take the time to think about it, I realize that the cause may be our inability to teach him to blow his nose. Whatever the reason, we try to take precautions to keep him from spraying us, food on the counter, or our meals at the dining table, including when we do go out as a family to eat.

My wife created what we, for lack of imagination, refer to as the "sneeze blocker" for use when we eat. She bought a cardboard tri-fold and covered it with fabric. The inside material is a pattern of ladybugs, butterflies, bees and daisies originally meant to be used for a dress for our daughter when she was younger. The outside has caricatures of all the states with their capitals, chosen for the benefit of our other two children. Unfortunately, despite the inside material having no "up" or "down" that we can discern, Anthony invariably turns it upside down, diluting the educational value to his siblings.

We put the "sneeze blocker" in front of Anthony's place setting and hope that he will not be leaning around it when he does sneeze. He is also large enough now physically that we do have concerns about him sneezing over the top, although that has yet to happen. Because he doesn't care for having his view obstructed, however, he bends down the corners of the tri-fold, reducing its potential effectiveness. Having it in front of him also makes it difficult to know what he wants when he sticks his hand around the side toward us, since we can't see his plate or cup.

We went to a church dinner function a few months back, expecting to find a section of seating we could stake as our own to ensure that Anthony would not sneeze on us or anyone else. The event was apparently a hit, to the extent that nothing was available in that regard. My wife found a little table that was holding a display of some sort, and Anthony and I sat there. At a subsequent church dinner, we actually took the "sneeze blocker" with us to be safe.

If only we could teach him to cover his mouth when he sneezes. We tried some years back, and he actually did it--once. We were quite happy to see that, and were hopeful of more to come, but that has not materialized. Following the recent IEP wherein the school staff said they could see greater intelligence than we knew, I have put more effort into dealing with Anthony as though he really understands what I tell him. Without getting upset at him (because that approach hasn't worked in the past), I am telling him that he MUST cover his mouth when he sneezes. He seems to be developing a rudimentary understanding of the concept. He isn't yet covering his mouth, but he does sometimes put his hand over his mouth AFTER he sneezes and we look at him. Perhaps perseverance on our part will improve his timing.