DS says it's too loud in Reception

[Natasha198]

My DS is 4 and started reception last week. The school have been doing half days, but he keeps telling me it's really loud in the class and that he doesn't want to go in. We had to really persuade him this morning. We have suspected ADHD for other reasons, but loud places / noises have really been affecting him, so we were always worried about him starting school. We're being really positive about it, and I've told him that if it's too much / too loud, to ask one of the teachers if he can go outside for a bit. We haven't told the school we suspect ADHD, but I will talk to them about it before he starts full days. What else can I tell him when he's worried about the noise? Will he get used to it if he has sensory needs? Or will it get worse? I'm worried if he gets overwhelmed, he will lash out (which is what he does with us). Any advice or guidance is welcomed, thanks!

Have you looked into loop earplugs? I don't know if schools allow them but they help with background noise but not completely block out the noise. My niece gets on really well with them at her school.

Get him some noise reducing ear defenders.

My dd wears them when it gets too noisy at school and it works a treat, they cancel it a lot of the background noise.

For some kids they do get better at coping with noise (or at least regulating/managing their emotions about the noise), for others it will be a longer term issue.

The two main accommodations schools can make are that the kid wears ear defenders, or that the kid gets to have short breaks somewhere quieter every now and then.

Breaks elsewhere are harder for schools to manage (as obviously that takes a teacher or TA away from the rest of the class), so they’ll always suggest ear defenders as a first step.

You can get lots of different types/designs - with a child that young you could try loop kids (which go inside the ears so you’d have to buy your own set) or over the ear defenders (which the school may already have available to borrow).

Good idea but make sure everyone in school knows he is wearing them and why.

I second ear plugs if you want it to be discreet for him, or ear defenders if you’re ok with that. He’s early in to school and if you want him to have half a chance of enjoying it, you need to help him deal with the sensory challenges.

Yes Loop or Flare ear buds and let the teacher know as the acoustics in classrooms can be awful. My child used to have noise cancelling headphones that school provided, we have bought both my ASD kids tonnes of these and expensive headphones to help with sensory processing issues

These! They are brilliant.

I use clear ones and no one knows I have them in. Can still hear what I need to.

I think it's really important to let his teacher know that he is struggling with the noise levels. You can get the ear defenders, but it could be that the teacher can take steps to regulate the noise more effectively. There should be times when the children are quiet, and it is very likely that he is not the only child affected.

Please be proactive and speak to the school / SENCo now about your concerns - it is difficult for them to meet his needs properly if you don’t make them aware… and it is no-one’s best interest that it gets to the point of him lashing out because he has got so overwhelmed!

The change from nursery (double the space, half the number of children) to reception is like chalk and cheese. My DC found it pretty traumatic. I remember going in with a forgotten lunch box once and it took me 5 minutes to get the teacher's attention. I couldn't have stayed in there much longer myself, the noise and hubbub was overwhelming.
I agree with pp suggesting headphones.
It shouldn't be necessary though. I remember my own experiences of infant school being calm and orderly. (over 60 years ago mind).

Not helpful but this is to be expected from a 30 kids in one classroom. I think 4 is too young to start school but unfortunately such is our system.

My daughter struggled with reception (she’s just gone into year 1) due to the noise. She’s always struggled with noise, as have me and DH. The main issue was with a SEN child who regularly screams in class but the noise in general was too much. My DD was allowed to cover her ears when the noise was too much but I was worried that using earplugs etc may mean that she never gets used to it and won’t cope properly with it as she gets older.

She came back from her first day in year one last week really proud of herself that she didn’t cover her ears at all, even for the screaming.

"She came back from her first day in year one last week really proud of herself that she didn’t cover her ears at all, even for the screaming".

That is awful. No wonder so many children are stressed, anxious and traumatised.

Could it be that he is just not used to the hustle and bustle of a busy classroom and needs time to adapt?
My ds came home from his first full day at primary and I found him sitting by himself in our middle room. I asked him why he was by himself and he said that he needed to give his ears a rest!
He soon adapted. Im not saying everyone will adapt, just a suggestion thatwhen things are are new they seem bigger and noisier until you are familiar them.

@endofthelinefinally pretty much all 4yr olds are stressed, anxious and traumatised in some way in their first year of school. All the kids are loud and there’s plenty of SEN kids in classes screaming or disrupting class. There’s not really an answer for dealing with it effectively for all kids. Totally agree with @notacooldadexplanation.

But kids should have to make an effort to get on with life. Having half a class wear special earphones rather than trying to cope for a while first to see if they can work through then dealing with it once an actual issue has been diagnosed just leads to a bunch of people that can’t cope with life.

Speak to his teacher. He might find ear defenders helpful. Lots of children use them nowadays to cope in a busy classroom, which can definitely be a sensory overload for some children. Also, flag your concerns to the school SENCO (or ask the teacher to pass your concerns on) so they can arrange to observe him once he's settled.

I hope he gets used to it soon.

I agree with those saying speak to the SENCO and class teacher. Struggling with the noise may be short term whilst DS transitions. It may be long term. Either way, they need to know of your concerns.

Thankfully, adjustments and provision are based on needs, not diagnosis, and having such adjustments and provision doesn’t mean a child can’t/won't cope with life. In many cases, it is the opposite. Such adjustments enable people to cope with life.

I'm a teacher of the deaf. Lots of our deaf children struggle with the noise levels in reception. I think it would be worth asking your GP for a referral for a hearing test just to rule that out.

This.

Thanks so much everyone. I briefly mentioned it today at pick up but they prefer to chat about it 1-1, so will email the reception and get an appointment with the teacher. DS has said the noise wasn't too bad today, but still going to flag the sensory issues to the school regardless.

For anyone that has had this previously and then it turned out your child had ADHD or autism, did you wait for the school to refer or go to the doctor? I'm hearing conflicting things!

My DS asked for ear defenders, definitely don’t wait on the school do your own referral.

I've worked in lots of reception classes. It can be very loud because they get a lot of free play and 30 children playing together and doing their own thing can be extremely noisy and chaotic. The teacher usually explains about indoor voices but the children are not very good at adhering to it, and even when they do it's quite chaotic. Many children are affected by it and some choose to wear ear defenders in the classroom and the lunch hall, which is often equally stressful due to noise.

Email and 1:1 chat with the teacher seems like a good plan. No point in going down the route of ear plugs/read defenders without also getting the teacher on board. The teacher will know how to make sure others in the class and school are aware he needs them.

In our local area school are the best route to a further assessment, GP tends to bounce back to them. Makes sense as the assessment will also want information on how a child is doing outside the home environment.

DSs preschool had already flagged concerns with both us as school before he started so for us the referral to a further assessment was made pretty quickly once he started school. Waiting list was huge then and I can only imagine is longer now.

Did He get used to a noisy classroom - not really no. What.did get better was finding ways to manage his sensory needs, putting in place options like ear defenders and ways to.gove him.a break from the classroom and having plans for.especially noisy times.

For kids that want to “fit in” and start masking at school it can be very hard for the school to fully identify the issues, so no way would I wait for referral from school.
Ask the GP for the referral now - the actual assessment will take into account information from school but you might as well get on the waiting list now - if he does grow out of any issues then you can always just come off the
list again.

Am I barking up the wrong tree, or would it be appropriate to see if the little lad gets acclimatised to the noise levels ??

hes 4. Just started reception last week, and is finding the noise levels awful -

wouldn’t we all ??

surely it’s one of the aspects of school that they generally get used to, unless there is actually a SEN issue ??

I think it’s a bit early to be off to GP, buying ear defenders, loops and what not -

is it not better to validate and normalise ??
yes son, it’s very loud in reception !!