Clever Little Man

by Amanda
(Virginia)

My son is almost 12 years old and one of his SPD issues is with noises. He HATES background noise, music, tapping, ticking, hearing people chew their food, the list goes on and on. At school he wears noise canceling headphones that muffle noise and filter some out but they do not block the sounds altogether. He started to become very self-conscious of wearing these huge black and red head phones when he started middle school this year. He was getting teased a little, but since he was in a self-contained Autism class most of the kids in his class were very understanding. The teasing came in to play when the class combined with the mainstream kids during PE, art, music, etc. His wonderful teacher had the brilliant idea of ear plugs. The squishy ones that you scrunch up and put in your ears when you want to sleep. Getting him to use those was a feat in and of itself! You know, they were squishy feeling and he really cannot stand anyone or anything messing with his ears! Once he used them though he was hooked! Now remember, they too muffle sound but do not block it completely.

After a few days, my clever little man tried an experiment...what would happen if he wore the ear plugs AND the headphones? Ah, complete silence. Bliss! Until he got mowed down in the hallway by an 8th grader running by! He's going with the headphones now...less embarrassing than getting run over in public! :)