Child Highly Sensitive to Noise
Many children with special needs have a hard time coping with loud unpredictable sounds. The family featured here taught their child to cope with certain sounds that bothered him. This story comes to us courtesy of Sarah M., a dedicated mom, special needs advocate, and talented glass artist in the UK. Sarah and her husband have two sons, the younger of whom has developmental challenges.
Sarah describes how they helped their younger boy, Sonny, overcome his painful reactions to noise, especially the random and sharp sounds made by animals. She helped him get used to these noises, made sure he had nice experiences while hearing the noises, and used TAGteach. The family’s goal was to be able to enjoy trips to the zoo.
Sarah’s Success Story:
We found that although our son loves animals, their noises startle and upset him, and this causes him to bite himself or others. It is heartbreaking to see him hurt himself like that.
Helping Him Become Accustomed to The Sounds
Working with an iPad and some animal noise apps, we played them on a low volume and simply tagged whenever Sonny demonstrated any reaction that was not fear or aggression. The tag point was: Neutral Reaction.
We slowly raised the volume over time. We played the app when he was eating ice-cream to help him feel happy while listening to the animal sounds. When we made it louder we noticed he would startle but not react so much.
A Clever Reward from Mom
One time I tagged for Neutral Reaction and the reward was for me to say, “OH! THAT MADE ME JUMP!” I immediately pretended to jump and then laughed. He thought that was hilarious! So although his eyes still often flinch and he will put his hands to his ears to regulate the noise himself, he was often laughing instead of getting upset.
Success!
The last time we went to see the flamingos I warned him so he knew what was coming. I said, “Shall we see the flamingoes? What noise do they make? SQUAWK!!” Then I made a jump and a laugh. He just strolled on in there of his own accord and simply enjoyed watching them. Result? What was a source of upset is now pretty funny!
Closing Comment
Using the noise app was really helpful because we could take it really slowly and really see where that threshold was. The process really wasn’t taxing or complicated or took that much time. Just a little and often! It was mostly dealing with the fear reaction and the result of biting that was the problem.
I’ve also made huge progress in decreasing the noise that Sonny makes around the house, using TAGteach.
Here’s the book that Sarah is mentioning:
What is TAGteach?
TAGteach stands for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. TAGteach is a teaching and communication method based on the scientific principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
TAGteach enables extremely precise positive reinforcement of behavior by using an acoustical signal to “mark” a behavior – at the precise moment the child performs the behavior! The acoustical signal is a short, sharp sound made by a handheld device (the “tagger”). When the child performs the correct action, the parent/instructor immediately presses the button on the tagger and hands over a treat (candy, treat, token, praise, social recognition, or money) as a reinforcer.
With TAGteach, it is easy to reinforce behaviors precisely, quickly, and intensively. The immediate, accurate feedback and positive reinforcement result in the child performing the correct action more often, and for longer periods of time. With immediate feedback and learning tasks broken down into small steps, children (and adults) can learn many new skills with TAGteach — at their own pace.
Learn More About Martha and TAGteach
With TAGteach, it is easy to reinforce behaviors precisely and quickly. The immediate, accurate feedback and positive reinforcement result in the child performing the correct action more often, and for longer periods of time. With immediate feedback and learning tasks broken down into small steps, children (and adults) can learn many new skills with TAGteach — at their own pace.
For more information visit the TAGteach website
For research on TAGteach, please see the TAGteach Reference List
Join the free TAGteach For Learning and Behavior Facebook group here
See Martha’s book about TAGteach for Autism or feel free to ask me a question (with no obligation).
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