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7 year old son with autism -thunder FEAR

I have a 7 year old boy with autism and he has suddenly developed an Extreme fear of thunder.  He has always been sensitive to loud noises but, usually manages to self regulate by going to his room and closing the windows or putting head phones on and watching t.v..  This summer has so far proven to be challenging because it has been thunder storming every afternoon.  My son goes into the basement bathroom or my closet (these areas have no windows) and covers his ears with his hands and screams/cries for the entire duaration of the storm.  I  give him the portable dvd player with the head phones and he also requests the digital timer ( I set the approximate time that I think the storm will last and when the timer goes off the thunder will be gone).  These strategies have not really helped at this point.  I also tried explaining that he is safe and that the thunder is outside and just means that rain is coming.  Nothing has really worked.  If anyone has experience with this or new ideas on how to get my son to tolerate thunderstorms I would be forever grateful!
Tiesh.....
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Avatar universal
I used to have that problem too when I was a kid. Now, I am over 30 years old and it doesn't bother me as much anymore. Your child might grow out of it one day. If not, try to get your child some headphones to ease the sound of thunder. That is my advice. I am autistic myself, just in case you didn't know.
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Avatar universal
I used to have that problem too when I was a kid. Now, I am over 30 years old and it doesn't bother me as much anymore. You child might grow out of it one day. If not, try to get your child some headphones to ease the sound of thunder. That is my advice. I am autistic myself, just in case you didn't know.
Helpful - 0
365714 tn?1292199108
Do you live in Iowa or anywhere else there's been lots of storms. I mentioned Iowa because that state seems to have gotten the cr@pload of weather this season...

I used to be frightened of T-storms until I learned about the facinating science behind the storm. I learned about lightning, different kinds, and so on. Then it went from fear to the complete opposite. I had to go _to_ the window and watch the storm!

I do go somewhat manic in the heat of a storm. I gather it is some sort of survival instinct. If I can just make myself calmly watch the storm or find something to do, then it's better.

Part of my fear/excitement comes when there is a tornado threat... I'm afraid of losing my posessions more than anything else. It scares me to feel like everything I own, everything that brings me some form of comfort, everything that I've worked on, created, etc, can all be gone in one storm.  That brings me GREAT anxiety...
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Avatar universal
Go to your healthfood store and buy boiron (brand name) phosphorus 30C . This is a homeopathic remedy. These are relatively tasteless pellets that he can chew or let melt under his tongue. one or two pellets every half hour to one hour before and during the storm should bring relief. Just make sure he is not eating or drinking other than water 20 minutes before or after taking them. Also nothing minty or brushing teeth. Food and mint will interfere with the action of the remedy. Homeopathic remedies are safe and do not interact with medications and they are very inexpensive. If you have an animal  that is fearful of storms you can put a pellet or two in their water.
Eldermom
Helpful - 0
470168 tn?1237471245
Sounds like you're doing all the right things.
I agree with 888mom about explaining it.
If you asked him, would he be able to tell you what it is about the thunder that frightens him?
You could also try Social Stories (google it if you don't know what that is) as a way to explain that everyone finds something scary, and that it helps to learn about the thing that scares us.  You could also say that part of growing up is that sometimes we just have to be brave for a little bit because the thunder will soon stop.
It is unfortunate that you're having so many storms at the moment.
It maybe that he is also obsessing about it.
My son also has phases of either having to do certain things or having to avoid certain things.  Then after some time he will suddenly be okay with the very thing he was anxious about and trying to avoid.
I would also say that you need to stay very calm at these times.  If your anxiety is racked up because you know a storm is coming and you know he will be hard to deal with then he will pick up on your anxiety.  So keep calm, and maybe instead of giving him the option of putting on the headphones etc give him the choice (if he can cope with choice).  Eg.  tell him that there could be some thunder tonight and ask him whether he wants to have his headphones etc or not.  You could also try being with him and counting the thunder (as a way of distracting him away from the desire to avoid it to one where he is waiting to hear it to count it).
If he finds deep pressure re-assuring you could hug him, or wrap him up in a duvet.
Helpful - 0
325405 tn?1262290178
Have you tried going over the science behind lightning?  Like what causes it, about how speed of light travels faster than speed of sound, and that you can count the seconds between lightning and thunder to see how far away it is?  Also explaining that it is safe to be inside a house or a car.  Like rubber tires provide insulation and ground the vehicle.  Yeah, I know he's only 7, but you'd be surprised at what 7 year olds can figure out.   Is his receptive language pretty good?   I went from being terrified of thunder/lightning as a child to being interested in it.  I hate loud noises too.  What gets me is when the lightning strikes close to the house.  Our neighbor had their tree hit.  When I was in college, I was within about 10 feet of lightning twice.  Once my friend was driving a car and lightning struck in front of the car (she drove off the road freaked out).  I guess by the time she would have gotten there, presumably the lightning would have been gone.  Maybe not.  She was going 45 mph.  Lightning does indeed travel from the ground up sometimes (it can travel either way).  I saw it go from the ground up twice.  The other time, other than the car, was there was this bad storm, and I was in college out hiking in the woods with 2 of my friends and we were trying to run back to the dorms during this bad heavy storm.  We decided to wait by the edge of the trees because we would have had to run through a field to get to our dorm rooms.  We saw lightning strike the middle of the field.  We didn't know whether we were safer under the trees (lightning also seems to hit the tallest thing around, so we were perplexed why it would zap the middle of the field -- or rather start about 3 feet above the ground.  I've seen lightning come in through a farm house window before too (in Girl Scouts we camped in the farm of a Menonite family in Pennsylvania, and they gracefully let us camp in their living room when the storm came... and it was a bad one... lightning actually came in through an open window... it kept striking their lightning rod on top of chicken barn and the next morning half their chickens were dead because chickens get scared and fly around and the heat they generated flying around and into each other)

Do you know what offset the fear of lightning?  Is it just because there have been so many intense storms this year?  Does he not feel safe?  Or is it just the noise?  Knowing the science behind things can help fear... though if it's just the noise... well, maybe not.  But 7 year olds usually like to know the why of things and how they happen.  And learning the why of things on why he would be safe inside the house is also good.  
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