Hearing?

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Hi all,
I have a question re hearing. J my 9 yr old AS son appeared a little more disorientated/confused than usual yesterday and the day before. Yesterday he made me just whisper to him for a short while, saying his hearing was funny. I tried to get him to explain but he just started to get agitated so I left it alone.
I know he has been extra stressed lately, could this have sent him into sensory over load?
He has even been more fussy with what clothes he will wear, he says certain things itch him or they bother him.
Some of his rituals are even more pronounced/obsesive at the moment.
His fears and anxieties are taking a little longer to talk threw. Eg Bath time usually = me giving him a quick wash or instructing him on where to wash and then leaving him mostly alone to soak/play. Now bath time = he insists I stay but I'm not allowed to make ANY noise for fear something will hear us and come get us and the door has to be locked and watched as does the window.
Any advice especially on the hearing thing would be most welcome.

I don't really have advice. I have an observation about life with my own son.

These things come and go. I have no idea why, not for lack of trying, but I do know that somehow my son either adapts, learns the fear isn't real, or it just goes away. Indulge it, make him feel secure, and he should be able to get himself through it.

So I guess that is my advice: keep your son feeling secure and loved so that he has the space and trust to find his own way through it.

You say that this has just happened in the last couple of day or so. Can you think of anything that might have happened to, or in the presence of, your son which might have caused these changes in his behaviour? I don't know what he is like normally, but some of what you're describing does sound a bit "paranoid"...

Is he at school? Maybe it would be worth contacting the school to see if they can think of anything, or if his behaviour has changed there as well.

As DW_a_mom says, it could just be one of these things, but it might be worth finding out if there is some actual, or perceived, event at the root of this.

My 8 yr old son has been a little like this lately. On some days he has been trying to do sign language because he doesn't want to talk.

It could be that your son is becoming more sensitive to noise, which maybe temporary. The other thing to keep in mind is that it could be related to an ear infection or retained fluid behind the ear drum. I took my son to the ear clinic three weeks ago and they said that his tymp readings were dead flat (they should make mountains). This would mean that his hearing was affected, much the same as it would be if you put your hands over your ears - everything echoes. The other interesting fact is that when you can't hear properly, you tend to lose the sounds that are higher pitches, and in straining to hear them, that makes all the lower pitch sounds appear a lot louder.

aurea,

I don't know you, or your son, so I can't say for sure. MY hearing is, what I have referred to as, SKEWED. I can't stand loud noises, but some people can WHISPER and put me in PAIN! In fact, at the hotel I am staying at now, there is one person I practically RUN AWAY FROM! I don't want her to WHISPER a word. It really does HURT! OTHERS can talk with her at leangth, but I SCRAM! I would have left the hotel if it was a bit easier to do so.

It is possible that your son has the same problem. BTW I only have this problem with maybe one out of every 400 or so females. I might run into 1 a year. Males usually don't hit it with normal speech.

Migraines can make you extra sensitive to noises and a migraine doesn't feel like a headache. It can feel like nausea, light and sound sensitivity.