Help please re noise sensitivity at school

[blackteaplease]

Hopefully this post is in the right section.

My ds is 8 and is on a waiting list for ASD assessment and another for OT assessment for sensory issues. Since returning to school after lockdown he has told me he is struggling with noise during unstructured times at school. He's in a class of 32 and for work time is sat at the back corner to reduce distraction. He tells me he gets frustrated and wants the noise to stop.

He doesn't want to wear headphones as he feels like the odd one out. We tried in ear headphones but they fell out.

When I raised it with his teacher she got defensive. Said for music and movement he is one of the most enthusiastic and moves so he is at the front of the class. I assume that is to reduce distraction and noise of the other pupils not due to his love of music.

Obviously I've told my son to let the teacher know he is struggling but is there anything else I can do? Also how do I get the teacher on board with this? They think he is fine, I think he is masking.

Sorry for the long post/brain dump.

Bumping this as we're in exactly the same boat with DD (Year 5), including the defensive school bit!

What about ear plugs? It's impossible to keep a classroom really quiet all the time, I think he may have to decide whether to try the head phones - you can get some pretty cool looking ones - or put up with the noise unfortunately :-( I'm not sure what other options there are. Perhaps tell him that some children wear glasses and they might feel like the odd one for a bit but it's worth it if it helps them so why not give it a go.

Oooh, thank you! Never thought of that. Have got bogged down in worrying about offending teacher (lovely NQT, struggling with classroom disruption, currently losing the battle by the sounds of things) and practical solutions have escaped me thus far. Ta so much for replying.

My child wears ear defenders in school and has for a few years, everyone has always been very understanding of it. I think maybe right at the beginning she had some questions from other kids but that didn’t last very long and now it’s just her. I think the trying to use examples of glasses or something is a really good idea.

You can also get some nice ear defenders, we got some covers that were a bit more neutral than the original bright red. But you can go fancy as you like.

Other things that we have in place is a solo work space, so she isn’t on a desk with others. And she also had a pass to leave the class if it was all getting a bit much. That’s trickier now with COVID as she used to be able to pop into the library next to her classroom but bubbles have stopped that.

Does your DS know he may be autistic? I know my DD found it helpful to understand her diagnosis and she’s listened to other autistic people talking about how they manage with stuff which has really helped her confidence in just being herself.

Sorry, I forgot about this thread, it dropped off my threads I'm on. Thanks for the responses.

School discouraged the earplugs as the teacher had to look for it when it fell out and she wasn't nt happy about that. I still can't get him to consider the ear defenders.

I pushed back on their response and the SENCO has had a chat with him. They are managing his class position during active time and its improved a bit. I'm managing noise at home as well so he isn't stressed on arrival at school. Getting the gang out the door can be very shouty and stressful.

I haven't mentioned his potential autism in case he isn't diagnosed. It's going to be at least another year before we make it to the top of the waiting list. Maybe I should though. This is all new to me and I've no idea what is best.

I think it is a really hard thing to know what's best for. I didn't have to make the decision as mine has an autistic sibling so read the stuff on that and told me she thought she was autistic too. I don't know how I would have approached it if that hadn't happened.

Well done on pushing back on the school, I think that is the best thing we can do for our kids. You have to become the parent who doesn't just let it go.