The audiologist who evaluated my daughter in Kindergarten (she's just finishing 3rd grade) called it "accute hearing" and said that in his opinion the auditory integration training was still controversial. He didn't recommend it, it was never covered by insurance, and we never did it.
She's definitely had lots of SPD issues...
Certain frequencies and levels have affected her since birth, mostly noticable since 6 months when she started getting "out and about" more often. It does affect lifestyle, especially kid things like movies and b-day parties in certain environments (why do they always have to be in bounce places, trampoline places, bowling alleys, arcades...?!) Indoor swimming pools for lesson times and public swim have been troublesome (we did do private lessons last year when it was just her and the instructor).
It was recommended that she wear ear plugs for PE and cafeteria but that failed due to teasing and trouble managing the ins and outs.
I homeschooled her for last half of K and all of 1st grade...
But a quiet school rather than a bigger public school might help if you can swing it.
She is also very bright, reading that early and lots of other things. When she's having issues people have suggested ASD. Never diagnosed, clears up outside.
They just said that she would learn to tolerate it over time...which she has, but it does affect lifestyle for sure and leads to meltdowns and, more now, agitation (biting nails, figiting). It absolutely does get better as the years go by, just be patient and try to be understanding and not punishing.
Several people including that first audiologist and a music teacher when she was 3, and more since then said per observation she most likey has "perfect pitch".
One thing that really helped when she was age 5/6 is that she had a piano teacher who did duets with her. This was to train her to "block out" what the teacher was doing and concentrate on her own sounds. They had some fights/meltdown issues at first but the teacher was fantastic (they were both intense and musical) but it worked really well.
I hope this helps!!! Think of it as how it could be a benefit and go from there. A few people told us that the audiology training to reduce it in the long run might take away from any musical channels it might be good for. That's an opinion of course!
Ear plugs, training to focus on certain sounds (like that Tuby the Tuba thing, Peter and the Wolf) are really good.
Certainly it's a controversial science so you just have to research as much as you can and try and do your best for your child!
p.s. when not using electronics (which really seem to agitate her...there is a litte buzz) I made sure everything was turned off and the power strip was off too. This is environmentally and finacially friendly and also reduces any frequencies that can agitate the child that other kids or adults might not even notice.)
