Christy.
Totally agree with Mataray as well. Matilda is a gorgeous, talented little girl, and a great credit to your parenting.

I think I will be repeating suggestions already made, however the psychologist Aidyn saw had some similar tips to dealing with every day stresses, such as music through headphones, sound reducing headphones, and also social stories - which will prepare her for the events ahead.
Another suggestion is to make up a pictorial story of the events that will happen in sequence for the entire day, and you can swap and change pictures each day, depending on what is happening, to help them mentally prepare for the day ahead. I have found pictures to work really well with Aidyn, moreso than just using words to prepare him.

Something we also do to help relieve anxiety (and also as an exercise to help with his speech) is to write a little book at the end of each day, with any major (or minor!) events that happened (in simple sentences) and a crude drawing to go with them. (with Aidyn's book we also concentrate on syllables, for his speech). Anyway, this end of day book has helped him with his anxiety considerably, as its a method for him to vent and communicate his stresses. The other day he fell down the stairs and was very upset, but then quietened down for the rest of the afternoon. When we added this event to his book that evening, he went through a whole range of emotions again (for hours!) trying to deal with and process the event properly, and it was obvious that it had really stressed him - moreso than what he was letting on. It was very therapuetic I think, and certainly made me wonder how much anxiety he has carried about things in the past, without having such a method of expressing it.

Anyway, think I'm rambling now, but just want to let you know that I'm thinking of you guys. *hugs*