my 7 year old has developed an extreme reaction to loud sounds. It seems he is afraid of being startled and when there are any triggers around, he completely shuts down (covers his ears, tenses up, withdraws from what he is doing etc). The triggers are things like buzzers at a game, balloons, fireworks. This has been an issue for a couple years but has increased in intensity over the past several months. He is on stimulants and guanfacine but I can’t directly relate that with this heightened issue. Anyone have experiences with this? I’m going to speak with his pediatrician. I’ve already spoken with his psychiatrist and psychologist. We are going to start exposure therapy and can consider changing up his meds but I’m nervous to do that because he is managing well in school which he wasn’t prior to meds and a new special ed environment.
extreme reaction to sounds: my 7 year... - CHADD's ADHD Pare...
extreme reaction to sounds
Sorry to hear he is having these reactions.This parenting journey is such a challange. I remember getting our son all the tools he needed ( education plan, medication, therapy and adjusted parenting) I had to realize there were still things that we struggled with that I could not control.
And then magically it started to get better. We worked in therapy together ( I went to each session to work on daily struggled, it would not have helped if I was not their guiding discussions about the struggles. If our son went himself he would say nothing was wrong. Would you consider asking the Child Psycharist why they think this is happening?
Our son has an extreme fear of needles and we did a lot of work in therapy with this. We had him hold the needle, we had him push it into a potato, we at home had a needle near him, then brought it close to him.
For us the bottom line is now he is an adult 18 years old and will have to deal with issues related to his fears.
Hope this helps.. just know we are always here for you and want to support you.
Thanks for sharing. It’s helpful to hear that therapy helped. I just asked that we start it asap. Hopefully the therapist has an opening. The psychiatrist said it could be the stimulants making his anxiety worse.
Our son moved off stimulants and now takes Wellbutrin for that reason. It helps with anxiety and impulsive behavior. Then he also take Guanfacine to help with mood and focus. If you can discuss the issues with the Thearpist before the session that could help guide the discussion to either find out why this started and to help him deal with the issue. Or what, maybe headphone can dampen the sound.
Let us know how it goes and I hope that someone has experince with this.
Thank you for sharing.
Working with an OT and perhaps using ear plugs might help him develop tolerance and coping strategies.
Thanks. I was thinking going back to OT and narrowing in on this specifically. He did it for several months but it was not focused on this.
and yes having ear plugs helps a bit
My son is the same way. Except instead of withdrawing he starts vocalizing / screeching to regulate. I noticed it increased when they added an extra dose of guanfacine, but I’m not totally sure. I’m planning to see his psychiatrist next week to ask if they think maybe he has autism and not just adhd.
Whoops I replied to the wrong message. I also wonder about autism but so far none of his doctors think he is. I will keep you posted what I figure out. Id love if you could keep me posted if you figure anything out.
I also wonder about autism but so far none of his doctors think he is.
Our daughter has struggled with sensory processing disorder . It can be to sounds like an exhaust fan , an electric ice cream freezer etc. Also sensitivity to food textures. An occupational therapist can help with this. Good luck! Keep us posted.
sometimes our hearing changes as we age. Many people are sensitive to loud noises. What’s worked for me and many of my sped students was noise cancelling headphones. I wouldn’t want to damage our ears with exposure to loud sounds. Makes light sounds harder to hear.
I’m trying to get my son to wear ear plugs at his next basketball game. At the first one he had a meltdown to the buzzer and had to sit out next to me plugging his ears, crying and staring at the clock to see when the next one was going to go off. When I said I got him some new ear plugs to wear for the next game, he asked if people could see them. I said they may be able to see them but that’s ok. He said absolutely not. So he is embarrassed of ear plugs but not sitting out and crying in the last game 🤷♀️poor guy.
It seems he would be more self consciousness about noise canceling headphones then… I hate the self consciousness kids have. Some EarPods can double as noise cancelling aids. I have a pair and need to take them out so I can hear people talk. Many kids use one earbud to listen to music constantly, so he may be more receptive.
Yeah these are ear pods. He hasn’t seen all the choices yet so maybe he will be ok. He recently used the pluggies at a hockey game so that’s what he’s thinking of and they are small. I got some disposable tan colored plugs so hoping those may work ok.
Popular earplugs are ring earplugs. Fashionable in the adhd world. There’s also flares that are more discrete and more like honers than plugs.
Thank you! Is that the same as loop? I bought those too but we haven’t tried them yet.
From many discussions with other adults with ADHD, like myself, I know that many people with ADHD have sensory sensitivities. So, it might be due to the ADHD.
Besides ADHD, I can think of three other possible reasons for sensory sensitivity. Two are neurological, and one is physical:
• Autism/ASD
• Anxiety/Anxiety disorder
• Highly sensitive eardrums
Autism
As someone else mentioned, autism can be related to sensory sensitivity issues. I believe I've heard that it's more common for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder than for people without ASD. Signs of autism can be detected as early as 18 months, but it's not identified in many children until they are at least 5 years old.
Anxiety
Anxiety can make anyone experiencing it become involuntarily reactive to noise or other stimuli. Some people develop anxiety in relation to circumstances. Other people (including myself) are simply prone to anxiety, apparently by biology or neurology.
Physical sensitivity
Some people can have greater physical sensitivity in their eardrums, particularly children.
• I had a number of ear infections from the time I was an infant until I turned 4 years old. I can remember when I was 4½-12 years old that my eardrums hurt from any loud sound, fireworks* being some of the worst. The pain would cause me to flinch. (It felt like a sharp pain, as of icepicks were being pushed into my eardrums.) High-pitched whistles, the sound of a door slamming, the loud bark of a dog, the jet engines of the planes at an airshow, the clap of a heavy book falling and landing flat on it's cover...lots of things would hurt my ears. (I finally outgrew it at 12 years old.)
*I loved watching fireworks, and still do. However, when I was a kid, one of my parents would have to put their hands over my ears, and I would have my little hands pressing their hands as tight as I could stand. I'd be smiling and making all the oooh and ahhh faces like all the other kids watching, but I'd have tears trickling down my face from the pain I felt. My parents were understanding, patient, and caring...and I'm grateful that they never made me feel ashamed of being a "jumpy" kid or because I was (and my ears were) "too sensitive".
... Be inquisitive with your child, the pediatrician, and any specialists you talk with about your child's needs.
The answers will come, but remember that you are your child's first and best advocate. Don't just accept the first explanation, but weigh it against what your child is experiencing. (As was my case, there might possibly be multiple factors.)
Thank you for sharing your experience and for this info. It could be any or all of the above. We have a pediatrician appointment tomorrow to help us narrow it down and figure out the treatment/therapy approach accordingly.
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