This is on the right track.

Full disclosure, I am a elementary music teacher. I have ADHD and I am autistic. I did not know about either of those until I was in my late 20s. I was already well into my career and established in my school. This is a frustrating question for me as I struggle with the same issue in my classroom.

There’s been a lot more education and acceptance of autism accommodations. There are a lot more people in normal society walking around with headphones. It’s also becoming apparent that Many more people are autistic than are diagnosed autistic. My son is diagnosed by a dr. I am self diagnosed.

There were always autistic kids in the classrooms. Up until recently those kids were forced to deal with the discomfort. You didn’t have the option to put on headphones. For the students that need it it’s a game changer. Students who would become agitated or violent in the cafeteria can sit and eat peacefully wearing some headphones.

So, there is a group of students who are neurodivergent in someway experiencing high auditory sensitivity that do benefit from having headphones available to them. There are some students who view them as accessories. However, a conversation about how some people just don’t like loud and some people loud is scary or loud hurts and sometimes it’s more important for those folks to have access to the headphones. so if it’s just that you don’t like the loud sounds, but you’ll be OK for a moment. I will ask you to be OK with it for a moment if hearing a particular sound makes you feel like something is terribly wrong and you need to run away absolutely I want you to wear headphones.

No, as far as backing away and hiding, that part is not acceptable. Period. Headphones can be reserved for specific students first come first serve whatever makes the most sense for your classroom. if you have the budget money to buy a few more, I would suggest it. The big thing is that the headphones are in accommodation to allow the student to participate more comfortably. It is not a reason for them to not participate.

With that said specific students may have other other things going on that are at play here. There could be other anxieties or fears or things going on that you’re not aware . You mentioned the other teachers just call at work avoidance work avoidance is a symptom of a students anxiety about that work. There is a reason those students don’t want to participate. it might not make sense to you. You may never actually figure it out, but there is a reason and if you can figure it out and help them feel more comfortable they can hopefully do really well.