BACKGROUND NOISE - HELP NEEDED !

While I cannot comment on the use of the equipment you mention, I will comment on the funding. Some districts will help Parocjial schools with their special ed students, even tho the children are not in the public system at all. This is not universal by any means, but it is also not unheard of. I do not know whather this is because the courts have ordered it, or if some districts realize it is much cheaper to help the Parochials meet the needs of sped students than it would be to have to bring all the sped students into the public roster. Some Parochial schools are getting people from the district to do pull out services for speech and ot for instance. It is worth investigating, the worst they can do is say no.Another option would be to talk to the Priests at the local parishes to see if perhaps some help with fundraising could be done through their organizations (your own church as well if you are not Catholic). You can also inquire with the Lions, the Jaycees, any local Masons. You might be amazed at how much help for a project like this exists all around us. And should you obtain help with this through one of these fine organizations, please remember that what goes around comes around, and try to help someone else who may have the need.Good luck to you!: My 2nd grade daughter has CAPD with problems with background noise.
: An FM system has been reccommneded for her. She goes to a
: parochial school therefore, they will not provide one AND can not
: afford one anyway. We have to pay for one. Has anyone’s child used
: this and how effective was it. ANOTHER SUGGESTION WAS to have her
: use “filtered earplugs” aka musician’s earplugs. These
: are only $160 and only suppress low frequencies. Has anyone’s
: child used these and how effective are they? Money is an issue.
: But we do want to get something that will work.: We are totally confused as which method to use. Any help would be
: very much appreciated ! ! !: Sincerely, Denise

We have been using a filtered ear plug for a year now. Supposedly the one we have is custom made and has a patent pending? I was under the impression that it was different than the standard ‘musicians earplug’, but I don’t know why and could be wrong on that?In testing, without the earplug, she had showed to only be able to understand 56% of info in a simulated classroom of about 22 kids. With the earplug, she went to 80% (84% is considered normal, and she was 100% in soundbooth). This was compelling enough for us to choose to go this route. She only wears it in her left ear (which was determined to be the faulty ear). Ours cost $60, but we have had to replace it several times because we lost several of them. You also have to replace them every year because you grow out of. Ours filters out high frequencies, which she tended to show the problems with. Another advantage of this earplug is that you not only increase your ability to hear the teacher, but you hear the other kids questions/responses as well and it goes with you out to recess and in gym (which is a very poor environment for my kiddo- echoy).Have we seen a difference? I can’t honestly say we have- I just don’t know. She insists that she can’t tell the difference with it in or out, and I’m even beginning to suspect lately that she hears better without it. I don’t know if this is because she has grown out of this earplug and/or that her CAPD is getting better(which I know that it is, because she is not nearly as sensitive to sounds as she use to be)? It’s on my to-do list to get her re-tested soon. I don’t like her wearing it for long periods of time. She should really only be wearing it during times when necessary -but when you start taking it in and out all day - that’s when you lose them!Her classroom is VERY noisy this semester as they have her out in a trailer. It has the poorest acoustics you can imagine (it burns me that they have any child trying to learn in that environment- but that’s a different story).Anyway, she seems to be attending and staying focused better than most of the kids in her class - with or without the earplug! When I come into class to do reading group - I notice that she doesn’t do as good a job in the group as she does one-on-one. I would guess that this is probably true with the other kids too - so don’t know if the sound is creating this or not.I’ve been trying to get the school to put in a classroom amplification system -but have not been successful thus far. So this was really our only choice.

Thank you to both of you for your information ! It was very helpful.Sincerely,Denise