Problems with loud/sudden noises ! Any advice please?

[nan]

I haven't been on here for a while, so hello again everyone. My grandson appears to have some of the autism/asperger signs - I have written about him before on here - he is only four and a half. He is doing very well, loves pre-school but has always had a problem with certain noises. It doesn't seem to be the pitch of the noise, but the suddenness. The fire alarm practise that has to be done at preschool is causing huge problems at the moment. As soon as he knows that the fire practise is imminent, he goes sweaty, pale and breathes heavily, usually screams all through it and sits and sobs afterwards. The teachers are aware of his problems with the fire alarm, but of course they have to do it. Does anybody have any idea of what might help with this? It seems as though he is anxious as soon as he knows that there is going to be a practise and it is as though he is having a 'panic attack'. If anybody has any experience of this and has some advice I would be so pleased. Thanks all

[joybed]

Marcus is just like this and used to have to be dragged to school on fire practice day. His school were very good about it and realised he genuinely couldn,t cope with the noise so they used to discuss with him what to do in the event of an alarm and then leave the building prior to it going off in the correct evacuation manner and wait on the field a long way away. This stopped the panic. The school bell was also a problem for a little while but it was one where you pulled a rope so they let him do it for a while and it got him used to it. Funnily enough he can tolerate the alarm at secondary school as he says it is not as loud and a different pitch which he doesn,t mind it. We also had a bad time when we couldn,t go to the supermarket as the alarm went off and we had to leave, the twins were tiny babies and as i couldn,t easily carry both of them and hang on to Marcus i had to unload the trolley and dump all the shopping in another then go back and retireve it. Marcus was very worried about leaving the shopping in case it all got burned and was less concerned by us getting hurt. I had to leave the shop with 3 week old twins and an 8 YO having a major panic attack and stangely enough noone offered to help.

Edited November 12, 2008 by joybed

[nan]

It must be very difficult with two younger children as well. Hopefully the new school will take the noise problem into account. I think schools are more aware now than they used to be. Fortunately the school he is going to is a small, village school so we are hoping he doesn't get overlooked. He does have a tendancy to go very quiet and doesn't ask for help over these things. Can't believe nobody offered to help you in the supermarket. I have wondered whether my grandson thinks that there will be a fire and it is that which worries him as well as the noise! He does think in a very literal way - but I think that is part and parcel of it x thanks for your message.

[Kazzen161]

I was speaking to a child with AS last week about the fire alarm. He said our fire alarm was ok, but the alarm at his other school was horrible.

 

We had a fire practice at school two weeks ago and no-one told me, so I did not know if it was real or not. My heart was racing for a while - lol!

[joybed]

The school Marcus went to and the twins are now at is a small village church school and i think was actually an advantage as all the teachers knew every single child and their strengths and weaknesses. They were also very keen on citizenship and helping and accepting others so this worked very positively for us. The teachers still ask about Marcus now and he has been left 17 months and they knew Piers and Lydia from being tiny it just feels like a big happy family most of the time. the bad side is they know of my tendency to be late and disoorganised and this can be embarrasing. Also I don,t think it prepared Marcus well for comprehensive as it is so much bigger and different but wouldn,t change his KS1 and 2 experience for anything.

Edited November 12, 2008 by joybed

[JsMum]

I haven't been on here for a while, so hello again everyone. My grandson appears to have some of the autism/asperger signs - I have written about him before on here - he is only four and a half. He is doing very well, loves pre-school but has always had a problem with certain noises. It doesn't seem to be the pitch of the noise, but the suddenness. The fire alarm practise that has to be done at preschool is causing huge problems at the moment. As soon as he knows that the fire practise is imminent, he goes sweaty, pale and breathes heavily, usually screams all through it and sits and sobs afterwards. The teachers are aware of his problems with the fire alarm, but of course they have to do it. Does anybody have any idea of what might help with this? It seems as though he is anxious as soon as he knows that there is going to be a practise and it is as though he is having a 'panic attack'. If anybody has any experience of this and has some advice I would be so pleased. Thanks all

 

 

This in my opinion is sensory overload, its where there overwhelmed with the sound, feeling and they just explode, My son has sensory Intregration and Processing Disorders too, we have used a number of Sensory Aproaches to help him cope with different sensory issues.

 

I would recommend two books, Out of Syncs Child, and The out of synce child has fun.

 

Loads of sensory games to help the child with sensory input.

 

Have you thought about an assessment with an OT she may help and she could put in recommendations for the school so when the alarms go off he has stratagies to follow to learn to cope when they go off.

 

He could wear earmuffs or sound defenders, distract his attention, play with sensory toys, and have stress and anxiety stratagies for after the event.

 

Good Luck

 

JsMum

 

Edited November 12, 2008 by JsMum

[chris54]

My son has never liked loud noises.

One of our big problems is the sounds that you get in toilets.

He would not use the school toilets when he first started at school which as you can imagine led to a few problems.

He is not to bad if he knows in advance about noises. But still hates thing that start on their own, anything automatic.

 

When I was talking to one of his teachers one time I said about him finding the singing lessons to loud and covering up his ears, "OH I thought it was because he didnt like my singing" came the reply.

 

[jo jones]

blaine covers his ears at school while having lunch,,in the yard when playin and cant go in public toilets with hand dryers,,nitemare had o/t assessment and has sensitive hearing and smell with other sensory probs also,,, dunno what to suggest though,, sorry not much help jo x

[KarenT]

Silicone earplugs and a social story have both helped J, but he still freaks when something unexpected assaults his ears. Being prepared is half the battle for him - he can cope better if he's calm enough to be prepared.

 

Karen

x

[nan]

Thanks everyone for your messages. My grandson starts school in January and his present childminder used to teach at the same village school and is still in touch with the teachers and support workers there. Hopefully this will make a big difference. He also struggled with the noise of hand dryers in public toilets, but now has a 'thing' about toilets anyway (!) - as well as lightbulbs (!) - x x I will get a copy of the book mentioned earlier - that will be helpful - x

[joybed]

None of my kids like hand dryers in public toilets and i have to warn them about sounds such as the vacuum cleaner and hairdryer etc. The worst thing for Piers in public toilets is the smell but i am a bit like that too. He will walk into a toilet and say no too smelly and really start having a major tantrum until we leave. Marcus just won,t use public toilets or toilets at school full stop and only uses one toilet in the house.

I find it strange how they can cope with certain sounds though. We live next to an airport the runway is only 1/2 mile from our house so at times it is noisy the first week Marcus was very anxious but now hardly notices them, the airport opened when the little ones were babies so they have never had a problem with it. We also have a train line behind us as well and didn,t realise it was there until shortly before we moved in. Marcus didn,t sleep for 2 weeks worrying about the trains going past as it used to make his wardrobe rattle, so we weighted down his wardrobe and gradually he got used to them too.