repetitive rocking/bouncing/groaning...what to do??

[jocook]

DD is currently sat upstairs bouncing up and down on her heels, repetitivly groaning. This has been a constant with her from being 18 months....now 4.5. I always try to distract her out of it (though will admit to often just bellowing her name if Im at other end of the house!) but it seems like her ability to entertain herself is getting shorter and shorter. Do I keep the positive distraction going (though this morning after a 5.30 start im REALLY not in the mood) or simply let her do it if its what she wants to do (though the noise is making me mental!!!!!)
HELP!!!!!

An OT has never been mentioned by anyone weve seen. havent read ANYTHING....only just out of denial really!! : /
She seems to do it out of frustration/boredom....dosnet do it much at Grandmas who gives her 100% one on one and a lot less at nursery where shes engaged in activities most of the time.

Buy her a trampoline? ds1 spends an incredible amount of time on his although what the neighbours make of the grunting I do not know . It is a lot less irritating to me than ds2's pacing up and down making car noises. The boys definitely have a need to do it when they are stressed although I think sometimes do it out of boredom too. Most of the time I manage to blank it out although can be very irritating on occasion.

From experience it is best to try to redirect her otherwise the behaviour will get worse and worse. The OT suggestion is good and as for the groaning is there any way you could try to turn it into singing/humming? Maybe if you do it with her?

I third the OT suggestion.
Bounsing up and down on her heels and groaning sounds like she is sensory seeking...that is looking for more sensory information for her brain to work with.
Especially as you say she can cope with one-to-one with Grandma to help her engage in activities.
At home (until you get past the looooong process of getting to see an actual OT) you could try the IKEA swings/hammocks or a trampoline to give her what she is seeking.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Were due (overdue infact) a review with the paed so I'll ask about OT then. Also going to look at some of the sensory diet tasks someone mentioned on another thread. I think Ive been worried about over stimulation as she seems so figity at night I thought that was what it might be but maybe its the other way round.
For all her speech is really improving her comprehention is still so behind that its really hard for her to comunicate with us.
the first thing she said this morning is 'my heads broken' ....I have no idea is she means that as headache or is starting to understand the differences between her and peers...still broke my heart!!!!! : (

DS1 (6yo) has some definite sensory seeking behaviour that he does regularly. I do try to get him moving about more and interacting more, sometimes encouraging different activities, when he does this. He seems to have cycles of certain behaviours that change, and then maybe a month or so later it shows up again.

He has a mini trampoline in his room that he often uses, plus we have a full size trampoline in the back garden. He likes to spin a lot, so I have to steer him towards areas of the house that are safer (why he likes to spin in the bathroom right next to the sink is anyone's guess!!). Vocally he goes back and forth between nonsensical shouting or yelping to singing at the top of his voice.

Also another thing is to cut down all sugars (unless fruit). My son's concentration levels and focus drop dramatically when he has any processed sugars. He also gets a lot more hyper and sensory in wanting to chew paper/carry objects around constantly.
We have stopped biscuits cakes, jams etc and only give him certain fruit early in the day (bananas for instance are actually high in sugar so we give them AM/lunch or afternoon snack before a special activity.

It has made a difference.

Oh thats interesting anon. Im a nursery cook so Im big on good nutrition but havent really looked into the sugar thing. How dramatic was the effect? Gotta say for all she doesnt eat sweets really and no pop (the really obvious stuff) to cut it out completely I think id struggle to get enough calories into her as she has such a small appetite! Think Ill slowly start to cut it down though!! : )

Sounds like quite a similar diet. Basically he eats tons of fruit but some not after 2PM.

We notice the difference if he has the odd piece of cake (he doesn't eat chocolate because it's a potential epilepsy trigger but I like baking so give him the odd pancake/cake/muffin)
It doesn't happen straight away but the next day he's definitely 'off' in his concentration and attention.