Posted: 11/5/2007 11:29:19 AM EDT
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As some of you know, my oldest boy is slightly autistic. He has sensitivity to loud noises but has been getting better with his reaction to them. I was planning on bringing him to the shoot next week w/ a good set of hearing protection. I am wondering, do any of you here have children w/ the same issues -sound sensitivity-, and what have you done when you take them shooting? I just want to bring him out to see things and hope he will ask to shoot a .22 or something. Ken |
Wouldn’t take him to the shoot then. Not the place to start him off. Just my .02 though. Get him going with the pellet gun, if that works move him up to a 22lr. If he's got an aversion to loud noises, bringing him out to a group shoot with a bunch of machine guns isn't going to do anything to help. ETA: He needs to get out and shoot with his dad.  |
Ken, Where do you live? If you live in the Portland metro area you can bring him out to my place and we can run plenty of suppressed .22 to help him get used to it. Then we can step up to unsuppressed...... FYI, I live out near Gaston(south of Forest Grove for you urbanites!). |
Whell, he has been doing extremely well at school. We just had our IEP meeting for him this year and they offered us the oppurtunity to remove him from services as he is testing at or above grade level. We have been doing the Qi Jong massage therapy and it has been working wonders on his ability to focus and concentrate. He is only mildly autistic (no brain damage) and has come ahead in leaps and bounds... |
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CONSTANT ENCOURAGEMENT AND CONSTANT POSITIVE REENFORCEMENT is the key and also consistency in action and behavior will help. For the shoot, let him know there will be lots of loud noises and practice with him on what to do. That's all the advice I can give as a licensed school teacher for my field and from my training and experience. Anything new is a constant shock so get them prepared for that. Having them removed and also improvements in IEP could mean many things. From my experience it depends on the educators and counselors and the people he works with. Sometimes from my experience it was a general improvement but sometimes its budgetary reasons. Make sure....that nothing is sugar coated but it is also a time that they will need to be wheened from the easy classes. Otherwise....it can be a good learning experience for him to come to the shoot because he will be dealing with alot of loud noises in his life, no better way than to let him practice it first. |
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for hearing protection, I use some pretty heavy-duty peltor ear muffs. I hate sticking things in my ears, so I almost never use plugs (this is something you may want to consider) if he doesn't mind ear plugs, maybe try doubling up. plugs and muffs. when I went shooting with philoparts, even the muffs weren't really enough. (my head was at the muzzle of his rifle, and he has a brake. dumb on my part) I agree with the others though, maybe wait until he |
I think I will do that. I am going to take him out with me alone though on friday. From there I will decide. |