All That Noise Is Damaging Children’s Hearing, said an article in yesterday’s New York Times—noise from headphones, video games, computers, TVs, “power mowers, leaf blowers, snow blowers, car and house alarms, sirens, motorcycles, Jet Skis, loudspeakers, even movie previews,” not to mention music from weddings, parties, rock concerts………………….
All of which falls rather ironically on my ears since the only reason Charlie is wearing headphones is because he’s become so sound-sensitive and needs to block out noise………………….

So as you may not, or may, have noticed, there is still some wonkiness going up with this blog. The good folks who handle are matters technological, software-related, and the like, have been working hard to migrate b5media’s blogs over to a new server and all should be well, webpages should load and updates occur, very soon. One (”adverse effect?“) of the server migration has been that the sidebar (to your right) has not been updating with recent posts and recent comments. So if a comment is left on a post written a couple weeks or months ago, unless you’ve …read more

BTBR mice are an inbred mouse strain that provide a “mouse model of autism.” BTBR mice are transgenic (their DNA contains an extra human gene thought to be involved in autism) and display “social abnormalities and repetitive behaviors” that correspond to the first and second diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorders. A recent study in PLOS One by Maria Luisa Scatton et al. investigates ultrasonic vocalizations in BTBR mice, in order to look at the second diagnostic criterion for ASDs, communication deficits. Scientists separately baby mice of different strains from their mothers and hypothesized that ultrasonic vocalizations might be a …read more

Noise seems to have become a bit of a theme around here, if not part of a sort of soundtrack. Charlie’s sensitivity to sounds—something he never had until this year—-is so great that he plants his hands over his ears soon as I try to turn on the car radio. Motorcycles, police and ambulance sirens, and the rumble of the traffic all warrant a fast rolling up of the windows, and he sits now in the subway leaning forward, hands on those ears. He doesn’t necessarily seem in discomfort, but trying to screen the sounds tumult.
Fourth of July fireworks have …read more

Yelling at Charlie is a 100% surefire guaranteed way to assure that he won’t do what I ask him (does it work with anyone, really?). He’s been so sound sensitive these past few months as it is, often putting his hands over his ears and, regardless of muggy June Jersey weather, snuggling the hood of his blue fleece (”summerweight”) sweatshirt over his head. So no buying a mom megaphone!

Are nasty neighbors affecting your home’s value? asks a report today on ABC news.
I’ll be honest—we do tend to be neighbors who can be noisy, though never in the form of blasting loud music, wild parties, and the like. Neighbors have had to hear us (occasional, and less frequent in than in the past) hollering “Charlie” and Charlie himself in moments of true distress and anxiety. We’ve been in a second-floor rental this year, and the neighbor below has indicated that there’s a bit too much stomping going on. We’ve bought extra throw rugs and try to get Charlie to …read more

An Oregon family has won a $40,000 settlement from a Portland, Oregon apartment owner and management company. Daniel and Jenny Sanchez claimed that Princeton Property Management, Inc. refused to accommodate the needs their of three-year-old autistic son. From press release from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development:
The Sanchezes alleged that Princeton Property Management, Inc., refused to grant the family’s request to move to a vacant first-floor apartment to mitigate noise complaints about their autistic son that the company received from a tenant who lived directly below the family. The family also alleged the property managers refused to renew …read more