DS2 (4.2) cried and refused to enter nursery this morning because the fire alarm goes off on Mondays. He also fears vacuum cleaners and hand-driers. Can anyone help me figure out solutions?
- I don't think he realises you can block your ears to make sounds quieter - ok to teach him this do you think? I'm figuring it's like thumb-sucking - you always have your fingers with you so it should be quite a reliable strategy and it's not too anti-social. Anything to be wary of?
- I guess a social story is in order. He's at the level where I could explain "ooh, there's the fire alarm, let's look for fire. Is there a fire? No, no fire, turn off the alarm".
- But really I want to ask, is there any direct therapeutic technique that can be used to ease his oversensitive hearing?
It's so apparent to DH and me after watching him carefully for two years that the receptive language problems are the flip-side of the oversensitivity to pitch and timbre/the extreme musicality. I'd love to know if there are any ways to help integrate the sensory input here.
On the plus side, it's apparent that he has a real gift for music. It's nice to think that it will always be there for him, even when he's old .