How many times have you seen those kids holding their ears—during a parade or at the July 4th fireworks? I had a parent contact me one of the first weeks of school that her son could not tolerate the sounds in the lunch room and had to be removed and eat in the nurses office due to the overwhelming sound.
Does this sound familiar —have you even experienced this challenge.
The hard thing with having a hearing sensitivity is that you can’t control the sounds coming from the environment. You can control the sounds in your own environment, but given that we live in multiple environments throughout our day we will be subjected to many different sounds, and volumes.
Think of what our kids are exposed to during their day—stepping on the school bus, walking into their school, and sitting in their classroom with as many as 25 kids around them.
It is normal for kids to converse and talk with each other. It’s expected that you should hear joy and laughter in the classroom. What happens to those kids that can’t tolerate all of that stimulus?
These are the kids that are hovering at their desk-just waiting for the school day to be over. These are the kids that have behavioral issues to try to block out this overwhelming stimulus —so they can leave their classroom. These are the kids that have constant medical complaints so they either don’t even go to school, or are sitting in the nurses office with a stomach ache or headache.
This is a real concern for many kids and even many adults. Typically this type of sensitivity does not go away on it’s own—kids just don’t outgrow this. There is a variety of programs that can target this for individuals of any age—don’t feel that you have to just “live with it”.
If you have questions or if this resonates with challenges your child has, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We would love to help find unique techniques that will fit your child’s needs.
Until next time,
Judi