Thursday, September 10, 2009

Too Loud!!!

Will has been diagnosed as autistic about 100 times. Never by a doctor, mind you, but by a million arm chair experts who have seen autism in other kids or on tv and recognize it as the new buzzword diagnosis. That and H1N1, but no one has used that on Will yet.

When Will was younger he would repeat things a million times. It wasn't just apple juice, it was "apple juice, apple juice, apple juice, apple juice" like a broken a record. Why did he do that? Well, according to one nanny (and no... not one that had actually met him....), it was because he was autistic. Will had a terrible fear of bees and insects and so a neighbor suggested he was autistic. He didn't speak more than a few words until he was close to 2 years old, so virtually everyone we know suggested he was autistic. Guess what, folks? HE'S NOT AUTISTIC. No medical professional has ever found reason to test him for autism. No pediatrician has even mentioned it. So, when I pose the question I am about to pose... do NOT come back with "maybe he's autistic" or I may hunt you down and shove the signs of autism up your you know what. (I can't say it because I don't want Will saying "ass, ass, ass, ass, ass, ass, ass" for the rest of the day.)

Today, Will had a rough day of preschool. He went out to the playground with his class, but there was a chipper right next to the playground taking out tree stumps. He was "scarified" by the noise. Luckily, the classroom volunteer brought him inside to play with puzzles. The downside is that he feels totally cheated out of playground time. Obviously, I could just take him to the neighborhood park, but that is not the point. Why is he so scared of loud noises?

Will is truck crazy, so he spent a long time watching the chipper from the classroom window. Much like he watched the cement truck from his bedroom window when we had the patio poured. When they jackhammered the old patio out, Will spent that afternoon in near hysteria and God help me if I play the radio loud and he unexpectedly walks into the house. I guess my questions are... is this normal and how do I fix it? I could use some help, because the last thing I want is for him to flunk out of high school because the janitor is using the floor buffer and Will has to leave his finals because it's too loud.

And let me just repeat what I said earlier... DO NOT TELL ME HE IS AUTISTIC!!! I have print outs ready and I am not afraid to shove them!

4 comments:

Tuffy said...

Strange though, because he isn't afraid of Mark.



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Busy Bee Suz said...

Lots of kids have fears. Noise seems to be a good one to me.
I also loathe loud noises, but it does not make me hysterical. My youngest has an issue with noise.. Always has, although she can handle it better than Will is right now. I have no answer for you. I would ask his pediatician when you have your next visit.
It could be something simple...
let us know. I would love to find out why also. Take care, Suz

Jounice said...

First....autism has become the "it" word every time a kid does something that no one can explain...geesh give me a break people! (coming off my soap box)

Will has had problems with his ears in the past so maybe he is just over sensitive to loud noises. David (twin who had tubes in his ears) was the same way and he would just cover his ears and say it was too loud. He grew out of it and now I yell at him to turn his radio down because he has it up too loud. If you are really concerned give his pediatrician a call and see what they recommend.

Lynn C Mama to 3 said...

Mike - That is a good point? I am kinda afraid of Mark.... does that count?

Suz - I will keep you posted. We see an ENT for Jack on Monday, so I may get his opinion while we're there.

Jounice - Yeah, I think you are right. I am just going to talk to the doc and see.