Pru,
My dd6 is cut from this same cloth.
She runs from the room if anything she's watching becomes too much. She wants to stop reading books for the same reason. It doesn't have to be anything really "scary." She does not like people in peril or people who are doing things that could get them in trouble. I think she feels the emotions so deeply! She has always been like this, since an early age.
That being said, we have worked with her a lot over the past year for this very reason...
To date she has only been able to finish one G-rated Disney movie. She has missed birthday parties and sleepovers because of movies.
We worked with dd on how to stay in the room but focus her attention elsewhere, if necessary. For example, when she was at a slumber party where they were watching "The Princess and the Frog" (not scary to most, I know), she had a book packed in her bag that she could quietly start reading. I told her it was okay to move to the back of the room or sit on the basement stairs if necessary. She got through it.
As I am typing this, she is sitting in our TV room with my iphone on her lap, ready to start playing a game if the Barbie movie she and her younger sister are watching becomes too "intense."
We also did try to raise her tolerance a bit through exposure. There are times where we hold her feet to the fire, forcing her to see movies all the way through that she has asked to see in the theater. She sometimes says she wants to go, but we encourage her to simply close her eyes or cover her ears, if necessary. I think she's proud of herself when she sees it through to the end.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the hypersensitivity is always there, but we are trying to give her some skills to cope with it. She's already a bit of an odd duck due to her giftedness. I don't want another thing keeping her from social opportunities.
