Sensory problems

[Starfish25]

Hi, my 4 year old son is on the asd pathway. He's always had a sensory problem but recently it seems to be getting a bit worse. I took him to a play centre for his birthday (had been before and no problems) the noise/music got a bit too much and we had to leave as all he was doing was crying, wanting to leave. Last weekend I bought tickets for a inflatable world (autism friendly) same thing happened, we lasted there a minute and again today I took him another play centre (he loves this one) I didn't even get a chance to pay and we had to leave, the fear in his face he ran out the gates. I have family saying it's a phase? I can't see this being a phase, will it get worse for him? We are going away in May to a haven site now I'm wondering if he will be able to handle the clubs. My heart breaks for him, he has a delayed speech so he can't even tell me what's going on

This is meant in the kindest way, but if he is hypersensitive to noise, why do you keep taking him to those sort of places ?
I'm not hyper sensitive to noise, but I find them really unpleasant - if he is hypersensitive then wouldn't it be better to choose other things that don't unsettle him as much?

Thank you for a reply but his sensory problems were things like a hair drier, hand drier on the toilets. Not play centres and previous times when he had been to them he was fine. The inflatable one was meant to be autism friendly - turned out autism friendly means no loud music/lighting is dimmed but still allow hundred of screaming kids in and the one I took him too yesterday is a "quieter" one so I thought he would try that one plus with the weather being awful there is only so many times we can go the museum and a library x

Would he be happier wearing ear defenders? My son love soft play because he's sensory seeking in terms of touch/sensation/movement etc. But he's noise sensitive and struggles with the environment. Ear defenders have been a Godsend. It's also the only way we can get him in a public toilet because of the dryers....

Also, autism friendly sessions are not always the boon they seem - depends on the kids in there at any given time. Some ASD kids will be under-sensitive to noise so may scream/yell/vocalise a lot. Their sensory needs may clash with the sensory needs of your child.

When DS was on the diagnosis pathway I used to assume that play dates with other autistic kids would be a good idea because they were all struggling with the same issues. Very quickly came to realise that ASD kids are as diverse as any other group of kids. They don't always meld together harmoniously....

Thank you for a reply. That's what I have honestly thought that being with other kids with asd would help him as he has a social problem as well. I could try him with ear defenders, I have tried regular headphones to see if he would tolerate things being on his ears and he wouldn't wear them but we can only try x