"Stimming" and school

[debs40]

Do you think it is appropriate to have stopping stimming behaviour as a target of a social skills group? The group was mixed with different children with different issues.

My son's school told me that at his IEP review that they had been considering 'solution based thinking' i.e. the children raise a problem, they are given a strategy to deal with it and then have to apply it in practice, debriefing the week after on progress....... bear in mind he's ASD and 6!

Anyway, I pressed them on what this all actually meant in practice and was told that one issue he apparently raised was the fact that he chews and licks things and wants to stop. They had spoken to him about this.

Now, I have never known DS even to be conscious of his chewing but I know his teachers don't like it as they put it on his IEP. I don't believe for one minute he raised it himself as an issue.

I was going to write to school and set out the fact that I thought this is stimming behaviour and needs to be handled sensitively. I was then going to suggest that this not be left to a TA but that they ask the relevant experts for advice if they want to address it again (e.g. ASD outreach team, OT).

Am I right in thinking this was a bit out of order? He doesn't care that he chews pencils and I don't want him to be made to feel as if he's weird. I've even got him his own pencils. If they don't like it, surely they should ask for advice on how to stop it?

Its difficult, I always look upon stimming as a sign or symptom of something else... maybe anxiety or sensory overload, or maybe just seeking that sensory feedback.

I would think it would be very herd to stop without wither addressing the cause of the stimming or if sensory related, maybe substituting it for a less obvious action that provides similar feedback.

DS2 Spits, he knows its wrong & knows if I see him doing it he will get told to stop (so he hides & spits) but I would be very surprised if he would ever raise it as an issue himself as it would be removing soemthing that he finds pleasurable & he doesn't ahve the language skills to express himself in that depth.
(he is 7 with ASD & cp)
What strategies do they list on his IEP to help him.
I think you are right some specialist help & ideas may be needed if this is going to be tackled regardless of who has raised it.

There were no strategies. It just appeared as a measure of success in increasing social skills - e.g. more eye contact, less handlicking.

I think the teachers do not understand it and don't like it but don't know what to do about it.

I think if it is a problem for them or him, specialist help is the way to go

Thanks for your post

Stim behaviours are coping mechanisms for both stress and pleasure. If you attempt to suppress the stimming, stress will inevitably build up, until it possibly reaches meltdown stage.
If you want to reduce the stimming, it's best to find out what's causing the stress and reduce that.

ABA approach stimming by teaching appropriate replacement behaviours that are more socially acceptable. We have reduce repetitive behaviours on DS draft statement (but LA not suggested any strategies yet!) as its a major barrier to DS learning ie he does all his stims but no play so doesn't learn / join in. But whenever we have tried to get him to stop - even when we have been successful - another stim just pops right up in its place so until he has play skills we're fighting a losing battle. Long term you have to teach the social skills and play skills so they become more rewarding than the stim. If its sensory seeking you can look at what sensation he gets from it and see if you can think of a better alternative or it could be that 5 mins on a trampoline at regular intervals is enough to reduce sensory seeking activity in class (I looked round a NAS school and they had mini trampolines in side rooms off the main classroom so kids could take time out for a quick bounce how fab is that!). As I see it stims can cause social exclusion but just saying stop isn't enough you need a whole specialist approach to teach other behaviours and to address sensory needs and then the stims should reduce on their own. But yes I agree need specialist input. If they are going to get into areas such as "other people think its odd that you do this" etc that would be more suited to a psych / counselling group for HFA / Aspergers ie run by professionals who can handle this stuff sensitively not a teacher putting her oar in. Self esteem needs to be protected not attacked!

Thank you guys. You give you such clear, good advice, I am going to quote you in my email to the school!

I was so annoyed in the meeting at the suggestion lie that DS had raised this himself, that I didn't address the inappropriateness of a TA (not even a teacher by the way)advising him on how to stop this.

I have to say I am now taking the approach that, while I don't want to be rude to anyone, they are so clearly incapable of addressing any ASD related issues that I have to be very explicit about what I say even if steps on people's toes.

Why does he need to stop stimming? Is it for him or for them? By saying that it is for him, they are trying to excuse it. I bet there were leading questions at the least to get him to say that it was a problem.

In the past I have used the strategy that we accept the fact that the child values the stim and finds it useful in some way, so the child knows that they are being listened to. Work together to choose a symbol/ object that represnts that stim. Then add it into the schedule. So you are never saying it is not OK to stim, because it is OK. You are just requesting that the child do it at different times.

Vitally important to stick to it though - if you schedule in 15 mins of bouncing, licking, spinning, whatever, then you have to let them have the full 15 mins.

I was working with children who had SLD as well as ASD, so maybe that strategy would not work as well, but it helped to build relationships as well as reducing the behaviours.

Thanks Star, that is helpful, will add that to my draft!

Thanks BigWH, that is a really useful idea.I agree with you too and feel very uncomfortable about the idea that they are trying to 'drill' this out of him when they don't even understand why he does it.

Because he is a passive child who doesn't exhibit difficult behaviour, they don't see he has needs. This was addressed in our meeting on Friday when the Community Paed made it clear that he is doing well just to be in school with all his sensory problems.

I find because school don't understand but are being told they must do something to help, they concentrate on things that they see as problems e.g. chewing pencils or doing his morning routine on his own.