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noise sensitivity


kiwik
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Hi. I only seem to come here when older ds8 has problem. Last time was two years ago when a bad class fit was causing toiletting regression and all round misery.

 

The paediatrician and i put him back together and 3/4 of the way through a year with a good teacher he came right. The first 3/4 of this year have been good too except complaints about noise in a 30 child classroom.

 

Ds8 is PG and has umdignosed (we are in NZ so no diagnosis if the school sees no problem) sensory issues and could be on the autism spectum (he wouldn't be the only one in my family) or it could be just being PG. The same applies to ADHD - he functions fine but is exhausting and never still.

 

The current issue. Due to building work his class and two other classes (80 to 90 kids) are going to be 'team taught' in the school hall for the last 3 months of this year (they move next week).

 

I really can't see this being anything other than a disiaster. The school has no back up plan as they believe everyone will be fine and if not it is time they learnt to cope with such things.

 

Do you as exoerienced parents of kids with SPD, ASD, ADHD etc think that this os likely to turn out well. Am i worrying myself sick for no reason?

Ds8 is worried too.

 

Thanks for reading

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I was able to block out building (construction, demolition) noise but not the noise of classmates chattering. Is there a safe room in the school like the sick bay where he can go to if overwhelmed by noise?

 

My home country is just north of yours. The doctors are the ones who diagnose sensitivites, ADHD and autism. The school just take the diagnosis and recommendations and see what they can afford to accommodate.

 

I could go to my schools' sick bay if I get sensory overload or just a bad case of insomia.

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There is a sick bay I will look into that as a plan. I am also getting him some ear protection. To be honest I don't know exactly who diagnoses stuff here but I do no it would be special education services [something like that] who would do an Autism or a ADHD assessment. I had the IQ test done privately but I couldn't afford to do a in depth assessment. His teacher will try his best I am just not sure he can do much. I think it the 'just learn to cope with it' that annoyed me most and the assumption that the modern world consists entirely of open offices that everyone must work in and enjoy the noise.

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Can he cope with change in routine? That would be the other thing that would concern me. I would certainly get the best hearing protection I could find, and a few days before the change, go look at the new location, find out where he would be sitting, and maybe go through the new routine with him a few times. And work out a detailed plan for what to do if he can't cope. Is he able to tell the teacher if things are getting bad? 

 

I must say, "they have to just learn to cope" is one of the reasons my guy is no longer in school. It drove me nuts when the needs of the institution were consistently put ahead of the needs of the kids. 

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I think he will be OK with change of routine and he is familiar with the hall. I am really not sure if they are taking individual desks - i suspect it will be some sort of hot desk arrangement (no one seems sure). I don't want to overdo the hearing protection as he needs to be able to hear the teacher and i don't want to completely isolate him. The kids are moving and setting up themselves it seems.

 

My backup plan is to beg my mother to come and stay 3 days a week (she works weekends) so he can stay home for the last 9 week term. It would not be ideal though. Or i might just let him stay home when i don't have to be at work.

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That would be hard for my noise sensitive kids. One of the reasons I did not pick some of the child led programs here was that they had open classrooms with no walls between classes. Two of my kids would have a hard time in a loud chaotic environment with less structure. I think noise canceling earphones would help but I am not sure if it would be enough.

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Though I do wonder what you actually mean by 'noise sensitivity'?

Where one definition of this, is 'hyper-sensitivity'.

With this, sound is percieved as much louder.

So for example, they might be able to clearly hear someone whispering in the next room?

Or the 'ticking of clock', is heard at a volume like someone hitting something with a hammer.

 

But another type of sensitivity?

Is an inability to 'focus hearing'.

This is important in a situation, with multiple sounds occurring at the same time.

Where what is required, is the ability to focus hearing on one of the sounds, and dismiss the other.

As an example of this?

If you have a TV on ones side, with someone talking.

Then you have radio on the other side, with someone talking?

 

If you try this? You might find that you can shift the focus of your hearing?

From the TV to the Radio, back and forth.

So that you can basically choose where to focus your hearing.

 

So that I wonder if what you term as noise sensitivity, is a difficulty with focusing hearing, and separating it from other sounds in the room?

Where this is something that be improved, by directly practicing it.

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A bit of both i think. He used to have to wear ear muffs when we baked when he was 3, when he was 2 he would cry when a plane went over the playground (it was under the descent path), it took him until he was nearly six to cope with air dry hand driers. Now he says he gets distracted and looks to see what is happening or where the noise came from, then has trouble getting back on task.

 

I have the tap, whisper, radio thing but i don't think he does unless he is already struggling to concentrate (if he is writing it would take less to distract him).

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I was similar with the noise as a kid... every single field trip I brought headphones, and soothing music.  There was special music that would soothe me, and with the headphones the rest of the chaos was muffled... Obviously wouldn't work during any instruction time...  but for work time...

 

In college I used nature sounds or ocean waves.  I still use headphones to help with this to this day...  

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