5 year old scared of loud noises

[LauraLu]

My daughter turns 5 next week. For as long as I can remember, she is terrified of loud noises...thunder, fireworks, the vacuum cleaner, even the automatic flushers in bathrooms.

When she was younger, her father and I just did our best to appease her and even went so far as buying headphones for her to wear when I needed to vacuum.

My biggest concern is that she will not outgrow this! She cannot use a public bathroom when anyone else is in there, because she hates the sound of the toilet flushing. It's becoming a nightmare!

Socially and academically, she is very smart and engaging. She will be entering kindergarten this year and can already read. She makes friends easily and is not the least bit shy. Minus the loud noise issue, my Madeline is a very easy child.

Any tips/ideas as to what to do? Her 5 year check up is in the middle of August, so I plan to ask her pediatrician. I just don't want him to blow us off and say "it's a phase."

 

[OmarsMum]

It could be Hypersensitivity To Sounds (Auditory Defensiveness). xx

https://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processing-disorder-checklist.html

 

[DaisyBee]

Megan must have this! As everything on that list for hypersensitive to sounds I can check. She still cries every single time I vacuum. She gets scared to death and freaks out if our smoke detector goes off. She doesn't like lawn mowers, big trucks, blenders, etc. Toilets she is fine with though.

She notices every single sound. Birds outside that when we are inside and no one else notices. Car horn a block away. Crickets, airplanes, cars, someone opening our garage door. She gets distracted easily by any noise and wants to know what it is or tell us what it is. She will stop any activity to listen if she hears something.

She gets very overstimulated in loud places. Like the mall when it's busy. She hates fireworks as well. She doesn't like going to my mil's because their dogs barking really bothers her. Like her whole body tenses up when they bark... Just the sound of it really bothers her.

I thought it was just part of her being sensitive?! I have jordans 4 month appt Monday and I'm going to ask the pediatrician about it.

 

[OmarsMum]

Megan must have this! As everything on that list for hypersensitive to sounds I can check. She still cries every single time I vacuum. She gets scared to death and freaks out if our smoke detector goes off. She doesn't like lawn mowers, big trucks, blenders, etc. Toilets she is fine with though.

She notices every single sound. Birds outside that when we are inside and no one else notices. Car horn a block away. Crickets, airplanes, cars, someone opening our garage door. She gets distracted easily by any noise and wants to know what it is or tell us what it is. She will stop any activity to listen if she hears something.

She gets very overstimulated in loud places. Like the mall when it's busy. She hates fireworks as well. She doesn't like going to my mil's because their dogs barking really bothers her. Like her whole body tenses up when they bark... Just the sound of it really bothers her.

I thought it was just part of her being sensitive?! I have jordans 4 month appt Monday and I'm going to ask the pediatrician about it.

Omar is sensitive to noises but it's not extreme. But he's Hypersensitive to Touch. I think highly sensitive kids in general have some sorts of sensory issues due to their alert senses.

 

[DaisyBee]

So thats why you have the eating issues and we don't. Megans is the sound and sight. She gets overstimulated with too much noise, or too much to look at. She is the only kid at our summertime group we go to that is willing to wear a hat ( it's outdoors ) as she doesn't like brightness. So she wears hat and sunglasses whenever out. None of the other kids do.

We've just learned to adapt to things and deal with it. I wonder if occupational therapy would be any help? Is that something you've thought of for omar?

 

[OmarsMum]

Exactly Omar's are the touch & oral.

He's sensitive to light & sounds but not as extreme as Megan's sensitivity.

We also learned how to adapt to things. I'm not sure what to do, I'm waiting until he goes to pre-school. He doesn't go to nursery yet, so we're fine with his sensitivity as now we know how to deal with it, but If we find that he's still too sensitive & his sensitivity is causing him issues in school we will seek help & take it from there.

I've been looking for centers that provide occupational therapy.

My friend's son had issues with his fine & gross motor skills (lack of coordination) at the age of 5.5 yrs (his teacher at school is the one who advised them to seek therapy, the kid was always with a nanny so his mum wasn't so aware of her kid's development issues)

When the kid started therapy, the therapist told her that they don't usually encourage occupational therapy before the age of 4-5 yrs

 

[DaisyBee]

Thats good to know

 

[LauraLu]

Thanks to the both of you for posting! It's comforting to know that others' children are also somewhat similar to my own!

OmarsMum ~ I did check out the link, and Madeline shows many of the characteristics of this kind of hypersensitivity. While she is not bothered by little noises (like the refrigerator running), she is definitely bothered by more extreme sounds.

I teach at a summer camp, and she is also enrolled. We took the children to a science museum with and IMAX movie, and my daughter was the only child (out of 150 kids) who was literally screaming and crying. I feel so bad for her. She HATED the noise!

I will definitely bring these issues up at her appointment.

 

[DaisyBee]

Megan isnt bothered by small noises... But she notices them where no one else does. She is the same with her perception of everything though. Within 2 seconds of going outside she will say, look mommy, I see the moon. And everyone looks around trying to find it and it takes us a while. It will be a very tiny sliver of white as it's the middle of the day. And she always will spot it immediately. She notices the spots on flowers or she hears if a fan is on. They don't upset or annoy her at all, but it's things that others don't even notice or pay attention to and she pays attention to it.

I also think some of this sensitivity is what helps make her smart. She will sit with us and listen to book after book and would read for 2 hrs if we were willing to continue. She loves music and will memorize any nursery rhyme after hearing it once.

 

[kobrinfamily]

It could be Hypersensitivity To Sounds (Auditory Defensiveness). xx

https://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processing-disorder-checklist.html

My oldest two sons have this as they are ADHD............Just get her hearing checked too rule anything out, I know it can be fo hard on them!!

 

[Tacey]

I'm not much help, as while Alice has the same issue, she's younger, so I've no idea if they grow out of it. My guess is that they develop ways to cope. Alice has improved a bit as she used to faint when she heard a very loud sound such as a siren. She can cope with toilets flushing, but runs for the hills in anyone uses the hand dryers in public loos. Most of the time, we can manage it. I let her know if I'm going to use the blender for example, and she runs upstairs until I'm done. Unfortunately, she's perfectly happy to make ear shattering amounts of noise herself!

My mum tells me I was similar as a child. She made up a personality for the hair dryer so I could chat to it instead if being scared! These days, I still have to sing loudly when the vacuum cleaner, hair dryer or washing machine are on. I can feel my heart racing sometimes in echoing shopping centres or crowds and I have to get out. It's not an issue to me though, just something I work around. Hopefully it will be the same for our girls!