Please talk to me about verbal stims

[runikka]

Our little boy, Daniel, is severely autistic and currently going through a particularly difficult spell.

He has taken to loooong spells of shouting "A" and "EH" at extreme volume over and over and over again, generally in the middle of the night. He takes absolutely no notice of any requests asking him to stop. If we do manage to settle him, within moments of leaving the room he's often out of bed starting up again.

This is a plea for our sanity - does anyone have any advice, perhaps having gone through any similar experience, and generally anything we can try to reduce this type of constant "verbal stimming" behaviour?

how about giving him something else to do with his mouth? perhaps a favourite drink or snack? i realise that this might set up another ritual in the making, waking up to drinks and snacks maybe rather nice and he may not give them up easily... but perhaps one problem at a time?

Other things that spring to mind that dont involve sugar are: silent whistles, paper windmills, not a big fan of balloons. If its noise hes after, how about popping a short video on, or maybe an MP3 player?

how old is Daniel?

Many thanks for your response.

Daniel is 4.5yrs and non-verbal. We do tend to give him some rice milk when he wakes up and he sips from it before continuing. He does also have his radio on quietly in the background.

We have brief spells when he will generally babble and we dont particularly mind this. Its not so much him making noise, its just the over and over "A" which can get distressing as we completely lose him into his own world at the same time. He has periods of it throughout the day and it seems to be increasing.

We might try putting a tv in his room so that we have the option to play a dvd. He used to love the baby einstein ones as a baby but tends not to take much notice of the tv now. However, it might be enough of a distraction.

Thank you again

How about an ipod, can you record him making the noise & download it for him.
Won't stop the stim I know but may allow you all to get some sleep.

My DS also likes a good old verbal stim although he doesn't do it at night. I think some more music or DVD input might help. DS has an Ipod Shuffle which helps on car journeys etc. We also do them back to him and all have a laugh, which he joins in and seems to make US feel better and make him realise he's with other people iyswim. On another thread a couple of us were talking about Melatonin to get a child to sleep, it is a hormone not med, maybe that would help settle him down?

My ds likes to make lots of noises too, although it does tend to wax and wane. He started making lots of deep sounds (think: howler monkey) a couple of months ago which became very intense for a couple of weeks (and it gave me an insight into TS!) plus he also did it at night, if he woke up. However, this loud noise has reduced somewhat and has now been replaced by something more subdued. It does seem to be a sensory thing in my ds's case, although sometimes he gets carried away and ends up falling about laughing his head off - which admittedly, is a much nicer sound!!

Unfortunately, I have no idea what to suggest in terms of getting your ds to stop the noises. My ds tends to go through phases, gets bored and moves onto something else so perhaps your ds will too? Could you wear ear-plugs at night - I never go to bed without them

Yes, I think they "discover" something new that they like and, being made by themselves, can't be taken away or not easily anyway. Apart from sudden, loud noises my DS does what I call his "homing signal", a regular "uh" at the same volume, tone and note. At least I can always find him! I said to someone the other day that he's like a submarine with his regular sonar thingy and maybe that's another function or a more regular vocal stim? Helping to find where you are in space (not the sea!) iyswim.

Many thanks again

Daniel does have melatonin occasionally but tends to wake in high spirits around 4am and start up again. We might try some familiar nursery rhymes to see if they distract him.

Davros, your right, in supermarkets I can always locate where my husband and Daniel are if I go down another section

It used to be humming bits of nursery rhymes or saying " d didi d da" which did get a bit much at times but was actually much easier on the ear. My husband wears ear plugs sometimes if really desperate but we have a little girl aswell and we are concerned about her sleep (she's 3) plus not hearing either of them when we REALLY need to.