KJP, my dd who had SPD had extremely sensitive hearing - we used to not be able to vacuum while she was in the house even if she was in a room with door closed on the other side of the house - the noise would be so loud (to her) she'd be in pain. She would complain about someone watching the tv with volume turned down low on the other side of the house. She also couldn't handle going to movies when she was little, or into large crowded noisy rooms. She had a sensory OT eval when she was 5, the spring before she went to kindergarten, and the OT recommended listening therapy - she had listening therapy for almost a full year (weekly visits with OT, listened to the program at home 20 minutes two times a day for the other days). This was all going on while she was in kindergarten. We noticed a huge difference at first when she wore the earphones - she could sit still and draw or write etc for the entire time she was wearing the phones, but prior to that she'd been really fidgety and moved around constantly. At the beginning of kindergarten, when she was just starting the program, she would complain all the time that she couldn't hear the teachers because "the other kids were too loud". When we observed and from what the teacher told us, it wasn't that the other kids were talking, but what was happening was she was hearing all these tiny background classroom noises like a pencil tap or a paper moving etc as loud or louder than the teacher's voice. As the year went by and she continued with her listening therapy, the challenge with being distracted by background noise disappeared.
FWIW, prior to the listening therapy she was seen by an audiologist and had a in-depth hearing eval (sound booth etc, looking for signs of CAPD). Hearing issues were ruled out. For dd, it was all about sensory processing.
I hope you're able to figure it out - it must be very frustrating for your ds.
Best wishes,
polarbear
