Shouting all the time

[lisad123]

And I don't mean me. Dd2 just shouts all the time. She has been referred for hearing check but wondering if it could be something else. Anyone got any ideas? She even shouts at her teachers

How about that old chestnut, sensory seeking? I think it's normal for DC with ASD to have strangely pitched voices, my DS2 is high pitched and goes up and down in all the wrong places.

She has sensory processing disorder but I guess this could be a new seeking behaviour. She has funny pitched voices normally.

They do sound similar, then. Sorry, I've gotten into the habit of thinking everyone has ASD. The obvious thing is to get her hearing checked out (as you are) but sensory seeking is possible second guess.

DS1 (HF ASD) is also very very shouty at the moment - every request is shouted and basically little short of a tantrum. Am not sure about what it's all about with him though, I think it's a reaction to nursery stress (mainstream) as he does have meltdowns afterwards, although he is angelic when actually there (keeping lid on things I suspect)

DS2 is quite shrieky. No volume control at all, really.

Have you tried using a volume thermometer or similar?

I got out my laminator, scissors, and doubled sided plastic aka Blue peter stylee and made a "volume slider" on a piece of A4. (it goes across the diagonal of the sheet of card). It's similar to the graphic on your PC for sound with the megaphone thingy.

"Loud" and and a photo of DS covering his ears outside are at one end, "Peace" and a pccy of DS talking to his friends are at the other. I then slid the volume slider down to "PEACE" and kept using the phrase "Indoor voice please" till my throat went hoarse for a couple of months.

The slider is still on the living room wall for when DS gets over exited but life is a LOT easier now. I tend to use it only when he has a group of friends round and they ALL get too noisy - works for the NT kids too His class teacher also uses one to calm the rabble rousers.

I made a card game for ds (years ago now) based on a six-point scale instead of five so that we could use a die.

We had:
6 for emergency shouting
5 for outside playing and cheering at sports
4 for alking to a group
3 for normal 1-1 talking voice
2 for soft voice in a cinema or library (whisper)
1 for silence

In the card game we had to say phrases at different volumes and tones of voice. Good fun and he learned to control his voice much better.