Vent/advice Oh the Drama!!

[playfelt]

Have the mom speak with the person that set up the hearing aids. When my mom got hers she went several times for adjustments - too loud gave her a headache and too soft well made them useless. If the hearing loss is profound they may need to start with smaller increments so that for the first couple months all she is doing is getting used to every little noise then they can increase and work oh helping her to filter out the noises so that she can pick out the important ones.

Can she have a pair of headphones to put on when she needs quiet. Doesn't need to be connected to anything and probably better that it is just for silence.

The speech therapist might also have some suggestions on how to limit her reactions to the noise. The standing on the head and head banging all make me think that she is literally trying to stop all the noises in her head.

She is now getting feedback from her voice too and all that she gets from that is more noise in her head. Notice she only talks when she absolutely has to as in you are addressing her directly.

If there is a way to deal with the tantrums differently it might lessen them. Time out is punishment and in a sense she did nothing wrong just tried to fight what was going on inside her as best she could. Instead of time out that is when she needs to get quiet space - the headphones, sitting in a cardboard box playhouse with a pretty door and window so it is a fun place, a pillow and blanket and a bin of toys behind the sofa or in a corner behind a chair or drape a quilt over a table and let her play in there coming out when she is ready. So instead of going to time out you would just say take your tantrum to a quiet place till you feel better and then steer her where you think it might help. Ideally instead of having the tantrum she would learn to go to her quiet space on her own.