The Sensitive Child

[BuildingBlocks1]

Hi all

My DD is 2.5. Has a huge vocabulary, talks in long, proper sentences. Knows her numbers, alphabet etc. No development issues.

She has always been a bit shy at times & takes a while to warm up. In the past 12 months she has become sensitive to loud noises, to the point she puts her hands over her ears & gets at times overwhelmed. It's strange as she's fine with soft play centres, quad bikes, tractors, it's more out of the blue unexpected noises. Although saying that, she will put her hands over her ears or leave the room if there's a part coming up in an episode such as Bing where she knows there'll be a loud part. I've tried letting her know the noise is coming (if I can) reassuring her noises won't hurt her etc. Yesterday I was about to touch a toy that made a loud noise & she said 'Mummy no!' & was desperate for me to pick her up, almost scared of the toy ultimately making its noise.

Her hearing is fine in that she hears every tiny thing, she had a hearing test at birth which was fine but nothing since.

Today she cut her arm, a small cut with a tiny bit of blood. She was beside herself & wouldn't let me see it. She grazed her knees last week & was the same then.

She's a sweet little kid who is very kind but I know will be sensitive, I was as a child but wasn't sensitive to the loud noises. Anyone with a fellow sensitive child & any advice?

Hi, its so good that you have picked up on this and are trying to help her. It's great that you give her a pre warning.

I can see that your intention is good with saying that the noise doesn't hurt but I think this might invalidate what she's experiencing. For her the noise could be so loud that it does hurt her. It sounds like she has some sensory sensitivities.

You may want to look up sensory integration disorder. (I hate the word disorder because it implies there's something wrong....I don't believe that it there's anything "wrong" with people who have it. It is literally a difference that just needs some adaptions to manage it. If we all had it the adaptions would already have been made.)

Thank you @MeltedButter that was a really kind comment.

I have googled it but apart from the sound sensitivity on its own, the other criteria she doesn't quite 'fit'. DH says she's being a child & she will grow out of it but I think I'll mention it to the GP to see what he says & whether an OT referral would be necessary.

Poor thing. My DS was very similar at 2.5, and it came quite suddenly, out of the blue. He was scared of a lot of sudden noises, ones that weren't even too loud, for example a donkey at a farm park!

He's 5 now. He is still sound sensitive, not to everything, but he absolutely hates large groups of people singing (he didn't mind it at school last year as it was always outside, and just his class of 30, but now that they go into the hall for assemblies and it's loads of children, he hates it and covers his ears), he still hates hand dryers, and he's also very sensitive to films/programmes he sees as scary. These are things that aren't meant to be scary at all, even a slightly creepy episode of Thomas can get him going!

I'd keep an eye on your daughter. I think my son might have some form of ASD or possibly ADHD/ADD, or dyspraxia. Basically I don't think he's 100% typical, but he doesn't quite fit into any of the boxes at this age. He's definitely different to my other child who is over 2.5, and who I would also describe as sensitive, but noises have never been such an issue (other than really loud ones!).

At two and a half it's quite normal to have some strong sensitivities to sounds and also to "minor" hurts, you can accept and believe that they are genuine and also that she will most likely grow out them in time. Warning her about loud noises is fine, hopefully it will give her the confidence to deal with them as she gets older.

Some kids prefer to lick their own wounds in private at first rather than immediately wanting comfort from adults. If it's not too major then you can let her have her own recovery time until she's ready to come to you.

Try to avoid saying things like "it wont hurt you" because she will pick up on the word "hurt" more than the "wont", and also because at that age she might find the noise genuinely painful or at least physically very uncomfortable. I still remember how horrible the sound of roadsweeper lorries used to make me feel!

Even if she doesn't have any other traits of sensory integration disorder it might be helpful to read about it as you could just apply the relevant adaptions/advice.

I honestly think this is fairly typical of some 2yos. Mine was scared of very loud noises like hand dryers and some “scary” or “sad” songs or stories. She’s mostly grown out of it at 4.