Our DS (9) has has had a "thing" about certain words since he was four. He will avoid books that talk about some subjects and will cover his ears when he sees a sentence coming up that has words in it that make him uncomfortable.
He tells me that whenever he hears certain terms, he gets a reaction that he describes happens in his extremities. Specifically, he feels a sort of weakness or contraction. For example: the word blood will give him this feeling.
Recently, his reading class has been reading about famous surgeons, and the descriptions have gotten a bit graphic for him.
I went into the school to talk to his teacher about his reactions, and she didn't seem overly concerned. Another teacher overheard my conversation and suggested he take some deep breaths and basically "psych himself out" to push away any negative feelings.
This week I've asked how he's been doing during oral reading time and he's told me he tunes out the parts. I don't think this is quite what the teacher suggested, and so am worried he's not absorbing important details about the story for the test.
Has anyone a child that has a similar reaction to words? How have you helped them through?
BTW....Our family has a member that faints at having blood drawn and another that upon hearing descriptive words will faint.
