Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm looking for advice for my 8yo daughter.
She is currently on the ASD pathway, and really struggles with singing and 'calming' music. She has been allowed to stay out of singing assemblies for over a year, but school have now implemented singing into every assembly. School are insisting that she needs to go into these assemblies as "In life things will happen that she needs to get used to"....
She becomes instantly distressed with these songs, and will sit with her in-ear plugs in, and her hands on her ears and cry throughout the whole singing part. As she has no formal diagnosis yet, I'm struggling to get the SENCO on board to keep her out of these assemblies, or to allow her to leave when songs start.
Any advice on my next steps?
Thanks in advance!
You could attempt to get a note from your GP. No school is likely to ignore something like that. It might be worthwhile contacting the school governors or local education authority. The, "In life things will happen that she needs to get used to", response can be countered by the argument that 'sensory torture', which is what your child is suffering, is never going to be eased by repeated exposure. I am autistic and in my 60s, I had a visceral revulsion to touching nylon fabric when I was a child, and I still have the exact same reaction now. If anyone forced me to repeatedly touch nylon, I would regard that as a form of torture as unpleasant to me as being given electrical shocks.
Thanks for your input, I will try speaking to CYPS tomorrow and see if they will advise school! If not I will try GP route...