scared of the weather?

[fiorelli]

Louis has developed a phobia(?) about wind. When it blows through the trees, and makes lots of noise, and makes the trees move and rustle, the terror shows on his face, he will run up to me, and try and bury himself into me until the noise stops.

 

Just now when we were out at school, the weather was ok. It wasn't raining, windy, snowy, etc. just a bit cold when we set out. as we got near to the school, we had a few spots of rain - not a problem as Louis like the rain!

 

Anyway, we picked up Lee, and as we were coming around the front of the school building, the wind picked up, the heavens opened, and it chucked it down with rain and hail - straight into our faces.

 

This threw Louis into a blind panic, and he ran off to be found cowering behind a big evergreen bush thing (the type that hedges are made of). He wouldn't move until the wind, rain and hail had stopped.

 

Just now he told me, "I didn't like that then, It made me feel sick"

 

How can I try and make it better for him? Obviously, I can't warn what the weather is going to be like, as exactly like just now, the weather can change without any warning.

 

Is anyone else's child (or themselves) like this? What do you do to help them/yourself? What makes it easier to deal with?

[Tez]

firoelli,

 

A is like this but his reactions are related to his sensory problems, yes, it does cause a phobia but only because it causes him intense pain. Could this be part of Louis problem? If so what about trying letting him listen to a personal cd or mp3 player when you are out to block out some of the noise. The wind and rain blowing in his face might be painful, I find this and apart from trying to shield his face not alot you can do if you're just caught in it.

 

If you feel that sensory problems might be part of the cause try to get a referral to an Occupational Therapist who specialises in Sensory Integration who might be able to help.

[fiorelli]

Thank you for replying Tez.

 

I am beginning to think that his problems are stemming from sensory problems. I am sure that someone else on here has mentioned about a cd player/mp3 player while we are out. My only problem with that is, Louis doesn't walk anywhere - he runs, skips, jumps, hops - anything except for walking, and I often have to shout out to him to get him to 'stop', or 'go around the lady', or 'dont run into the post', as his spatial awareness is very poor. So I think that having the player will hinder me being able to warn him.

 

It's a hard one.

[DaisyProudfoot]

What about wearing a balaclava - not very fashionable but they're great for blocking out sensory stuff

[clintess]

while you were having problems i was with my son he was having a meltdown and was partly in road, it took me about ten minutes to move him with cars going past, then i was around the corner from home and it got all dark and the heavens opened and t was having another 5 mins so i got wet, walking with t is a nightmare my hv has just filled in some forms 4 him to get a buggy so i can get him home safely,its reassureing im not the only one going though this.

[lisann]

Hi Char seams to have got a little frightened of the wind but I thinks it's because he doesn't like it blowing in his face.The noise doesn't bother him but thunder and lightening is a different story.

He went to school today with his hat on pulled as far down his face as he could and his hood up and his scarf over his moth and nose there where just his eyes visable.

But it made him happy

 

Lisa x

[Jeni]

my son is now obsessed with the weather. he is terrified of thunder and lightning and during a storm will cover his ears and hide his face so that he cant hear or see anything. he now has to check the weather forecast daily and tell me all about it. he checks it on the computer and on the teletext and also checks the world weather as well.

 

i dont know whether his obsession is helping him or hindering him. when it came to walking home from school in the summer i would get a phone call from the school to go and collect him because he was so afraid. i once got a call because he had read on teh bbc weather forecast that at 4pm it would thunder and as it was 3.40 he was worried about walking home. i felt mean but as i knew there was no chance of a storm and his school is only 5 minutes away i told him if he set off now he would be home before the storm was forecast at 4...

 

btw my son is 13 and in yr8 of high school.

 

i do remember him being afraid of the wind when he was about 3 tho. our house is open at the back, theres jsut fields and the wind used to blow into his bedroom through the airbrick o his bedroom wall. he used to scream with terror. we evenually put a radio in his bedroom and gradually turned the volume down on it. he only had the problem inside tho so dont have any advice to offer you for outside really.

[CarerQuie]

I think that these sort of problems are fairly common.Rhodri hates wind,thunder and lightening and snow,which he insists that we must call 'sleet'.xx

[Klou]

Fiorelli your situation sounds exactly like mine, especially the spatial awareness issues. We went to the supermaket today, not something I usually do with DS however I hadn't got a home delivery booked, we had no food and I am working extra days this week so we absolutely had to go. Actually DS was fairly good.

 

Tips from the OT have really helped!

 

But I must have said 'mind that trolley', 'walk round that lady' 'stop and wait' at least twice in every aisle. It 's the same in the town so I am also not too keen on him having music in his ears as an additional reason for him to take no notice. Especially as he gets very cross about me steering him around obstacles.

 

The wind is our biggest problem too. I haven't found a way round it either other than covering his ears with the hood on his jumper. I was about to say it hasn't been that inconvenient but we did decide not to go out for the day one weekend because it was very windy and we knew DS would hate being out in it. So I missed seeing the trees in all their autumn colour.

 

Next thing to ask the OT is about dealing with wintry weather conditions!

[Mother in Need]

My son has been extremely grumpy and aggressive these last few days with all the snow and ice, and this morning was so terrified of the road conditions (the main roads were fine though) that he would not go in the taxi.