I have had and IEP since I was in kindergarten as I am low vision legally blind. When I got Hyperacusis in around the Second grade, it was added onto my IEP.
In the second and third grade I attended running Brook Elementary school for part of the school year. They tried to make accommodations such as: allowing me to eat lunch in a separate location, not going to PE music or art class, coming in after arrival and leaving before dismissal.
All the noise from students and teachers talking in class, kids in the hallways, noises from other classrooms such as videos and music, multiple people talking and laughing, announcements and intercom system, furniture or object moving was too painful for me though.
I would come home every day in a lot of pain and have to lay down for hours. I had a lot of absences, and eventually ended up on home and hospital for most of my second and third-grade years.
For third-grade home hospital, they put me in an office building. This worked well and was less painful for me, as I was in a room in part of the building that was mostly empty. In fourth grade, they transferred me to Fulton Elementary school. They had a regional program which they said had only about six students, so they thought it would be quieter.
They did make accommodations such as giving me a shortened day schedule, having adaptive one on one PE, not going to recess music art or the cafeteria.
Going to Fulton though was extremely painful. Although there were only about six students in my class, they had severe behavioral challenges and would often scream and bang on the walls and throw furniture. Attending school every day was a nightmare for me, I was in pain every day. When I got home, I would sleep for hours in my closet.
The pain would linger, and I would still be in pain from school several days later, which resulted in me having a lot of absences. Eventually, the pain became too much, and I was no longer able to continue to attend school for about a month I was just mostly laying in bed.
I also suffered from a setback from my Hyperacusis due to the elevated pain levels and sound exposure over a long period of time. Now even the sound of my refrigerator in the kitchen was painful for me.
They put me on home and hospital instruction in the office building again which went well. I was at least able to go to a place to learn and get my education without it being a painful experience. They again placed me in a room in a part of the building without many people, just me and the teacher.
In fifth grade, they again wanted me to try to return to school. They told us that I would not be in the room with the children who were screaming. Instead they put me in a separate room at school, right next to the music room.
It was very painful for me, and I eventually could no longer continue to attend and ended up on home and hospital at the office building again.
Again, this worked very well for me and I really hoped that they would allow me to continue to stay in the low noise, non-painful learning environment.
Unfortunately though in the sixth grade, they decided to have me go to the Bridges program at the Homewood center. Which is a special-education program with small classes.
They did make accommodations for me such as: allowing me to leave the classroom when it is too noisy, allowing me to transition in the hallways separate from the other students, not going to the cafeteria, or music class or wood shop class, minimizing my time spent in core (an even louder part of the school), creating a special hand gesture I can use with students and staff when it’s too loud, allowing me to leave the classroom when there is movies or music, etc.
Despite all of this attending Homewood is very painful for me. The sounds of students and teachers talking in the hallways, noise from other classrooms, objects moving or falling, bells, walkie-talkies, intercom system, multiple people talking and laughing are very painful.
I am not only in pain while I am at school. I am also in pain after school, on the weekends, and days off. I am now currently in the 10th grade and have been attending Homewood for five years. Although I have managed to attend Homewood, The pain level is intense, and just below intolerable.
I am on unable to do homework after school or do much of anything after school as the pain is very severe. Most of the time I just want to rest and lay down. Its hard for me to get up in the morning and still be in pain from the day before and know that it’s going to get worse when I go to school.
It’s very difficult for me to attend five-day weeks and when there is not a day off, I usually end up being absent one day due to the pain buildup. Despite all of this, they do not want to do home and hospital because it is not a long-term solution due to LRE (least restrictive environment).
I did A presentation about Hyperacusis and made recommendations to the Howard County Department of special education. I was able to get contact information for Dr. Terri Savage director of the Howard County Board of special education, who told me that she would try to implement some of my recommendations before I graduate. These were my recommendations 
While on a state-wide scale I would love to see a hyperacusis school program dedicated to students with hyperacusis. I would like to make some recommendations about what Howard County could do to reduce my pain, and the pain of others like me:
- Soundproof a room- acoustic panels and or soundproof foam on all walls, soundproof door
2. Teachers that teach me inside the soundproof room rather than me going to them for instruction including related arts
3. Ensure staff have their own classrooms to limit the amount of noise produced when I am trying to learn
4. Add an addition onto the LRE that requires that all students be in an environment that does not cause them physical pain or physical discomfort
5. Implement a county system similar to home and hospital only long term and allowing for students to still have 1-2 peers that are able to accommodate their needs in there specialized learning environment example soundproof room this would not only help students with hyperacusis but also help any students who have conditions where they experience physical pain or physical discomfort from the school environment even with accommodations and modifications
6. Approve distance learning and telepresence devices for Howard County
7. Allow for graduation requirements to be modified for IEP students if it is something that they are unable to do or causes them physical pain or physical discomfort due to their disability even with accommodations and modifications examples woodshop or music
9. Attempt to find and locate any other students in the county who get physical pain from there school environment and could benefit from the accommodations recommended above- this could even be done through a countywide student questionnaire
My mother and I also found a Neuro-ototlaryngologist at Johns Hopkins and made an appointment with her. I reached out to some of the researchers researching pain Hyperacusis at Johns Hopkins and asked them if they would be willing to speak with the doctor. My hope is that if the doctor understands about Hyperacusis she would be willing to sign forms for home and hospital instruction until these recommendations can be implemented.  I really hope that I am able to have a pain-free education before I graduate!
Hyperacusis Awareness: Sound Sensitivity Treatment 