Accommodation for sensory issues in public schools.

[Anonymous]

OP, our 5 years old DS also has issues with noise. We, parent and grandparents, had learned to warn him in advance about loud noise. "Gonna be loud!", kiddo puts hands in his ears, and daddy could grind some coffee, or mommy could vacuum the house. Loud noise from public places like bathroom or classroom are hard to avoid we bring ear plugs with us most of the time.

DS is diagnosed with ASD (HFA) with ADHD btw. Classroom noise.. oh my, fall is coming and my DS is going to school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, do you have an IEP at her school? Our IEP allows DS to wear noise-blocking headphones during tests and assemblies. He's not freaked out by sirens or hand dryers but if he's trying to concentrate, any noise will disturb him.

OP here. She has an IEP for motor planning and gross motor (which is good because she has to hold a handrail or another person on stairs), but not for the noise blocking. I literally just now got off the phone with the school health resource about the GI issues -- she will work with me on that. So that's something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, do you have an IEP at her school? Our IEP allows DS to wear noise-blocking headphones during tests and assemblies. He's not freaked out by sirens or hand dryers but if he's trying to concentrate, any noise will disturb him.

OP here. She has an IEP for motor planning and gross motor (which is good because she has to hold a handrail or another person on stairs), but not for the noise blocking. I literally just now got off the phone with the school health resource about the GI issues -- she will work with me on that. So that's something.

Once you have an IEP, regardless of the diagnosis/code that led you to get that IEP, you can ask for any services your child needs, regardless if they are related to that original diagnosis or not. So you don't need a ASD diagnosis or OHI "rider"; you just need to call an IEP meeting and request to add the services/accommodations that you need. It doesn't sound like you want anything unreasonable.

Since it seems like your child is starting a new school (kindergarten, right?) there should be an IEP meeting 30 days into the start of school anyway, but ask for one in writing just to be safe.

[Anonymous]

Our MCPS school worked with us when DS entered kindergarten, without an IEP. He brought in noise reducing headphones for fire drills and the lunchroom . For indoor recess, he was permitted to go to a quiet classroom.

I think for all of the training and OT we put DS through, it simply helped that his elementary school doesn't have hand dryers and the fire alarm is just not too loud. The monthly fire drills with the loud clanging bell sound was too much in preschool. Over time at his elementary school, he just chilled out and now he sometimes chooses the hand dryer over paper towels in the bathroom, which is astonishing.