Mary Koska (speaker) explains why headphones and sound-dampening devices are included in sensory kits for children and adults with auditory sensitivity. She introduces a "three Cs" approach (calm the environment, calm yourself, calm the child), recommends noise-reduction headphones for immediate relief, and gives stepwise acclimation strategies (short, playful practice sessions, pairing with a sound) so children will tolerate headphones. She shares a personal anecdote about an indoor swim meet where headphones provided relief, and summarizes two recommended products: Loop (earplug-style with interchangeable inserts for stronger blocking) and Calmer Flare (soft silicone funnels that reduce high pitches and distorted frequencies without fully blocking sound). Targets: parents, therapists, teachers; invites questions on the Facebook group.
Hi, Mary Koska here. I am going to go over why there are headphones in your kit. So headphones can be for you or the child. So let's start with you. So we have our three areas. Calm the environment, calm the, calm yourself, calm the child, the three Cs. Now if you can get your child away from or turn down the noise that's bothering them, that's ideal. Or you know, move them to a different area. The vast majority of kids that we see are extremely auditory sensitive. They hear the fluorescent lights buzzing, they, it literally is painful to them. A lot of sounds that we just don't even notice. Their, their filter is just not working well. And so for instance like say you're at a birthday party and they're just way over stimulated. You can literally just give them a little break, go sit in the car for five minutes and then go back in in a little bit. I'll tell you a story of just. My experience with auditory overstimulation made me very, very sympathetic to the kids. But a quick fix are just noise reduction headphones. And so they just wear them and it, they can still hear but it doesn't hurt. So they can hear what's going on, but it cuts down the noise and it's not as painful when your child is in a full on meltdown or a tantrum. It overstimulates your nervous system especially if their pitch is super high. So you can put them on yourself to help you co regulate and feel better. And there's nothing wrong with that. I would have definitely done that had I realized that that was an option when my kids were younger. So. So now the biggest challenge with these is that the kids usually won't just wear them right away, they have to kind of get used to them. So the best thing to do is when they're in a happy, good, calm, playful place just to start putting them on for a few seconds. So you'll be like my turn, your turn, my turn, your turn. And then you just slowly do it for a little longer. It's also good to be just making a sound like la la la la la la la. Put them on again, keep making that sound. And then at the point that they connect that they realize, ooh, that made things quieter. That's when they start become more agreeable. But you often have to work up to it slowly. And it kind of reminds me of getting kids used to glasses. I can remember at a preschool that I worked at, we would little kiddo would sit on top of the counter and look outside and they would point out the trucks and they put the glasses on just for a couple seconds and he'd push them off and then a little more and a little more. And as soon as he made that connection that, oh, I can see things that I can't normally see, then he was more tolerant. But it takes a little while. And so they just expect that they're going to reject it in the beginning and it's something to just kind of get them used to. But like I said, you can always use them as well. And in another video I will, right after this one, I will show you some other options for your, your own auditory handling, your own auditory stimulation. There's a variety of different types of. They're not exactly earplugs, but they, they're just sound dampeners that. There's some different products that work really well. A lot of my staff like to use them. Okay, so the story, when my son was in swim team, one of the meets was in an indoor swimming pool. It was made out of metal, metal roof. And there's hundreds and hundreds of parents and kids, everybody just screaming, you know, cheering on their kids, everything. And then the event announcer saying the events. But it was such a loud high pitched sound because of the metal. It was just exhausting me. And I had to be there all day and it wasn't far from my clinic so I was, well, first what I was doing is I would take little short breaks. So I'd go outside for like five minutes and then my whole body would just be like. And I just felt an immediate relief and then I could go back in and handle a little more. And that's why I was saying, you know, if you can just get a break from the noise, it can help you go back in. But I knew I was going to be there all day and I was like, I'm going to go to the clinic and grab some headphones and see what that's like. So I went to the clinic, got the headphones, came back, put them on and I was just so relaxed and felt so good. The rest of the meat, I could still hear the answers, but, and I could still hear people cheering, but it just wasn't so loud. It wasn't hurting me, it wasn't hurting my ears. And so that really gave me a sense of what the kids are going through and how much relief it gives you when you can get a break from the noise, either vice versa, stepping to a quieter area or using headphones. And another way to deal with sound. We have Two things called the. We have the loop little earplugs and we have the calmer flare. So I'm going to explain these two to you. So the loops have. It's more like a earplug and these are especially great for adults and they have different inserts that can block even more sound. So that's more if you want to really, really block the sound out. What my staff like to wear, we have a lot of staff with auditory sensitivity and we're working with kids all day long and so we really like the calmer flare. F L A R E and they are these, they're kind of almost like a little, like a little funnel. And what they do is they go in your ear like an earplug, but it's not plugging the sound. It's a soft silicone and what it does is it. I'm just going to read from, right from the brochure. Distorted frequencies have a dramatic effect on our mental and physical well being. Ear fatigue, headache, increased stress, they can all be linked to noise. Unwanted sound from our busy daily lives. Calmer provides a natural way to reduce the constant barrage of today's environmental noise and stressors. So basically you're not plugging out the sound, but it changes the way you hear, takes out the higher pitches and just the unnatural sounds and just basically can bring the sound level down and you can still hear everything. But it doesn't like get on your nerves so much. So my staff love wearing these and so I just wanted to tell you about those two products. Loop and Calmer Flare. FL A R E And you know, most children won't tolerate putting things in their ears, but these are especially great for the parents and the therapists and just people that are having to deal with noisy kids. So they'd be great for teachers too. All right, thanks. And if you have any questions, go on the Facebook group and I will be happy to answer them there.
