Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
Because my daughter has sensory sensitivities, particularly with loud, sudden noises, she had been very scared of smoke alarms going off since before she was 2. Despite doing work around it with a psychologist and having a social story written about it, she has remained petrified of them going off and it has got worse every year.
Now, we are at the point that I cannot use the cooker at all because she thinks I will burn something and it will go off. This evening I put her headphones on with music, made sure she was in her bedroom and calm and then went to use the cooker. She realised what I was doing and had a complete meltdown. She was hysterical, throwing herself around screaming, hitting me and herself, saying all sorts. This went on for about 15 minutes until I had to abandon the meal as it wasn’t safe to leave her to carry on with it. Afterwards she said she was so sorry and won’t do it next time. But of course she will,as she can’t control it.
I don’t know how this will pan out in the future. It’s not her only phobia, but her worst. We can’t avoid smoke alarms, by law we have to have them and of course I do want them, but it means I’m in an impossible situation. I’m not even sure there is an answer. Has anybody else had similar and how did you cope?
Not sure if this would help, but have you looked at smoke alarms designed for people who are deaf or hard of hearing?
They use strobe lights or vibrations to alert you to a problem rather than making a loud noise. You can get doorbells and all sorts as well.
https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-and-risks/Specific-groups-at-risk/People-with-disabilities/Educational-materials/People-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing
https://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/shop/alarms-and-alerts/
She won't be able to avoid alarms at school/work etc. but it may restore a little normality to home life whilst she develops other coping strategies for her phobia.