Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy To "mainstream" a "supersensitive" child?

My gifted child is supersensitive to many things - some that stand out are super sensitivity to noise, textures of food and busy-ness around him (cannot function well with noisy and active people around him). He also has strong feelings of guilt and responsibility to the suffering people and animals in the world, a heightened sense of injustice, feelings of surprise when he encounters a "rule breaker" amongst his peers (rules are meant to be followed!), has a constant need for comfort from a parent that the world is not an unfair and unjust place and that both good and bad coexist. He is 9 years old and has always been different from all his friends in the above ways.

For e.g., he could not sleep last night at all because there was a night bird chirping outside and he could supposedly hear it all night long through a closed and dual paned window and black out curtains. Though I highly sympathize with him, I am also wondering how such kids will thrive when they head out into the world, live in shared apartments and dorm rooms etc where there is little control on the level of noise and other irritants. I am concerned enough that I would like to start finding ways and means to help him cope with oversensitivities starting now so that he can adjust better when he is off to college. I would really appreciate any BTDT advice, tips, book referrals from other parents with similar kids. TIA.

Possibly the sound was a cricket??

Have you heard of "white noise" for masking sounds? There is a broad range, from running a fan, to selected music, ocean sounds, and apps.

Might this help him, or would it tend to add further overstimulation?

ashley, one of my children had super-super-sensitive hearing when she was younger - from toddler years through around 8-9 years old. She was also a real high sensory kid - she went through sensory OT and a listening therapy program when she was in kindergarten, which helped a lot.

Ultimately, what really helped was discovering she had a severe vision problem - I think that the living with the vision problem for so many years heightened her awareness, dependence and sensitivity to sound. She was able to get through 3 grades in school before we even had a clue anything was wrong with her vision.

This is probably not even remotely related to what's up with your ds, but I wanted to mention it just in case it might be something to consider for him.

I'd also think through whether or not any of his sensory symptoms might be symptoms of anxiety - could be general anxiety or anxiety secondary to something else.

I don't mean for my response to seem negative - just want to put it out there that I think as parents of gifted kids we often place the root of everything our kids experience as giftedness, when sometimes it's something else entirely that's going on. I'd consider - if my child wasn't intellectually gifted and he was experiencing the same issues, what would I do? Is the social anxiety high enough that I'd take him to see a counselor? Is his food texture issue impacting his eating in a way that's significant enough I'd want to take him for a sensory eval or OT eval etc? Sometimes a good place to start is just talking to your pediatrician - ask for their advice and recommendation for local resources.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Don't know if this will help, but it's worth a mention. I was recently diagnosed with high frequency hearing loss, but I also am sensitive to high-pitched sounds and then there is the tinnitus.

Right now, I am trying out the most recent technology for hearing aids. They stream everything into my ears and my iphone acts as the bluetooth. I have different settings, such as when streaming nothing is amplified. Which comes in handy, if I am at the gym (where music is pumping and treadmills are grinding) or in the street (where ambulances and honking horns are abundant). My sons say that I am calmer and not repeating things as much. The new aids are small and are really cool, especially with new iPhone 7 wireless earbuds.

We've introduced DS6 and DS5 to kids' yoga (easy to find short videos on youtube) and mindfulness meditation (we use an app called headspace, and they have meditation for kids). Both seem to help greatly in teaching them to calm their minds, which seems to make everything else melt away. Sometimes it has more to do with the busy/anxious mind than the external stimuli.