My son has been really doing alot of self stimming lately, (more than usual), I was wondering if anyone out here had any advice or experience in ways to help me divert my son from doing them. He is constantly verbalizing and hand flapping. My usual methods seemed to not faze him anymore and I need help. Any and all advice is welcomed.
Thanks

Sherry

Been round and about with this one ALOT! You need to figure out why his is stimming more that usual. They usually stim when over stimulated or stressed or excited. Reduce these and it will reduce. Unless he is hurting himself though, it is a real good stress reliever for him. The only time when I would worry, is like it seems that he has all of a sudden increased. Then you would have to figure out why. Stopping it is not what you want to do, you want to illimanate the need to stim. The stimming is not the problem unless he is engaging in self destruction.(Head banging, chin punching, self-mutilation).
Sandy cougar@firetrail.com anytime! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif Hope you are able to figure it out soon for your little guy!

jtsmom My son Mark (NT) did ALOT of "stimming" (flapping hands in peripheral eyesight) until I discovered that he has an impaction to the colon, and is VERY casein intolerant. In his case, the removal of ALL dairy (including milk solids in processed foods) got rid of not only the "stimming" but the migraines and muscular skeletal aches (and stomach cramps due to the impaction). I never would have figured it out if his sister didn't have severe multiple food allergies. His sister is just four, no longer obviously autistic, and strictly GFCF (and phenol foods as well). Maybe you should make a food diary, and see if one particular food is eaten more frequently during the heavy "stimming" periods. (For instance lots of diary products = lots of stimming). Write down everything he eats on the left with behaviors to the right. It won't take long to see a pattern if there is one. A "food rotation diet" would help even more with this: Doris Rapp has great guidelines for this in her book "Is This Your Child". I would never believe this, if I didn't see it first hand. My daughter was VERY self-injourious last year at three, that ended with removal of gluten (casein was already gone). Most common allergic foods: wheat (ll gluten wheat, barley, rye, oats), dairy, corn, nuts, citris, shellfish, actually any kid can be allergic to anything.

Thanks to both of you for replying. Actually both of you are probably right. Jt normally stims more when he is learning alot at one time and when I sit down and think about it, he is learning to go on the potty which is a tremendous task in itself and they have also introduced a new schedule at school that makes him work hard to communicate. Jt also is on a casein free diet and I think they had pudding last week, so maybe that is what is going on. I just wish I could figure out a constructive way to redirect him, so that he will get back on task. He is obsessed with stimming at times and you could stand on your head and he wouldn't react. Maybe now that the weather is getting nice again, that will help him. It seems the more active I can keep him the better he does too. What about your kids, does physical activity seem to help them? Anyway sorry to go on and on, thanks again for your suggestions, I really appreciate them.

Sherry

At the time...nothing helped with the exception of removing the problem. Although there were some exceptions sorta and that was Auditory Integration Therapy and Sensory Integration Therapy that help reduce his over stimulation problems. School stress... that was another story. He is now 12, and I'M STILL not over it... You got that that was ME not him that isn't over it...right? LOL School can be a tough one. My son always reacts to his changes or challenges. Specially with more than one going on.
Excercise? Physical Activity helps almost everyone for alot of things. Sometimes though, they need the oppasite... a quiet room with a book or something they like. Hopefully with the nicer days and a regular schedule, he will be back to his regular self!
Sandy

Hi Sandy,

Thanks so much for replying. My son has been doing the sensory integration therapy for awhile now. I am really curious about the auditory therapy. How does it work and have you seen results from it?

I have heard of auditory therapy before, just not in detail and am very curious about it. Any details you could give me I would greatly appreciate.

Thanks again

Sherry

Sherry, You might want to read "A sound of a miracle" by Annabell Stehli sp? Although is is a great book, it really isn't about Auditory Integration Therapy (AIT), but was the insperation for the book. You will like the book eather way. Anyway, that is the same kind of AIT that my son had (the Berard method) this is the origanal therapy brought over from England because of Stehli. My son made remarkable progress with this. He has done it twice, but the last one wasn't as effective..but there wasn't much to do eather. With most people, one time (2 week coarse) is enough for ever. Some see benefits from a second or third time, although they reccomend waiting 2 years to see the full effects. What it is? Here is a great link.. the Georgina Organization. Geogina was the daughter in the book "Sound of a Miracle". Anyway, she has a great web sight. http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/general/auditory.htm

How is your kid doing in SIT? MY son only went a year. He did great, but then I went back to work and couldn't take him. I think he got alot out of it, but we were done. I would like him to get some SIT in the water. He is afraid of water, but I think a great SIT therapist could work around that. We also did the diets, but they were not worth it for us, little improvement for a lot of work. We did use DMG with success. And taking away the food colors helps still. I just have to get my youngest ADHD eating better stuff. UGH Sometimes ya can't win!! How old is your little man?

Sandy cougar@firetrail.com

Hi Sandy,

Jt does really well with SIT, I requested he have done in his school, so he gets it everyday usually. He loves it. He is so much more alert and happy when he gets to do it.

Thank you so much for suggesting the book and website, I am going to check it out and I will let you know what I think. I just thought it might be beneficial to him, because he reacts so badly to loud noises.

Anyway thanks again, was glad to hear from you and hopefully will again soon.

Take care!
Sherry

This is what we at The Autism Treatment Center of America (http://www.son-rise.org) call an "ism", a repetitious and/or exclusive behavior. Children have many different kinds of isms, including repetitiously saying the same phrase, spinning themselves or objects, staring off, jumping, lining objects up, to name a few. The thing that makes these distinctive is that your son is in his "own world" when he is doing these behaviors, and there is little or no eye-to-eye contact, usually.

This is the time your child is withdrawing the most from human interaction. The behaviors are the vehicle, not the actual difficulty. The withdrawing *itself* is what you want to address. Here is how we would recommend you address this: get involved with his behavior. If he is flapping his fingers, flap along with him! If he is spinning a ball, get your own ball and spin. Find a place inside yourself where you enjoy your child when he is doing this. This creates a deeper bond and connection with your child. By joining in, you can build a bridge to where your child is, and make yourself (and interaction with people in general) much more compelling and inviting for him. This is the heart of the Son-Rise philosophy (http://www.son-rise.org/coreprinciples.html).

I hope you found this helpful.
For more information on The Son-Rise Program please visit our website.

Regards,
Kim Adams


------------------
The Autism Treatment Center of America
http://www.son-rise.org

Hi Kim,

Thank you so much for the great information. It is so funny that you would give that advice. Since I first posted this "problem"...we have been doing exactly as you suggested. It started out as play because he would laugh and act so silly when we did it back to him, that now we just do it all the time because he seemed like he enjoyed it. The behaviors also have decreased. I have visited son rises website many times and am really impressed with the methods that are used there. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer this. I was curious if you had any suggestions about potty training? We have been trying for a while now and I have let up a bit because he seemed to be getting so frustrated with it. Any advice you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again and take care.

Sherry

I am interested in hearing more about "stimming". Our son who just turned six does something that we think is similar to this. He is in regular Kindergarten, extrememely verbal and has not had a diagnosis, but he has some quirky behavior. He has a rubber snake (or uses something that wiggles) he will sit and wiggle it while he acts out some kind of scenario in his head (he narrates it) Whatever is going on in his head has nothing to do with the object he is wiggling. He is aware of other conversations going on and at times has been listening to them while doing this type of behavior. He is not tuned out to the world while this is going on. Any advice on this would be GREATLY appreciated.

My son has been really doing alot of self stimming lately, (more than usual), I was wondering if anyone out here had any advice or experience in ways to help me divert my son from doing them. He is constantly verbalizing and hand flapping. My usual methods seemed to not faze him anymore and I need help. Any and all advice is welcomed.
Thanks

Sherry

Hi Sherry:

My 6 year old autistic son is highly verbal and stims a lot. We have him on 2 meds Risperdal and Lexapro and they help a little bit but he still stims a lot. They use a weighted vest in class to help him feel more settled and they say it helps. He loves to play with a stick, string, or anything that flipps around and before we knew he was autistic (before 3 yrs old) and even when he was just starting to walk we called it the Chicken Dance because he would start doing this little dance and we thought it was so cute and funny but now we know what it was.

Hi Sherry:

My 6 year old autistic son is highly verbal and stims a lot. We have him on 2 meds Risperdal and Lexapro and they help a little bit but he still stims a lot. They use a weighted vest in class to help him feel more settled and they say it helps. He loves to play with a stick, string, or anything that flipps around and before we knew he was autistic (before 3 yrs old) and even when he was just starting to walk we called it the Chicken Dance because he would start doing this little dance and we thought it was so cute and funny but now we know what it was.

Sounds like visual stims...
Have you tried Vitamin A? Magnesium, zinc, enzymes?
Have you tested for yeast, bacteria, allergies?
Casein & gluten free? Low phenol? Corn syrup, MSG reactive?

My son has been really doing alot of self stimming lately, (more than usual), I was wondering if anyone out here had any advice or experience in ways to help me divert my son from doing them. He is constantly verbalizing and hand flapping. My usual methods seemed to not faze him anymore and I need help. Any and all advice is welcomed.
Thanks

Sherry
Hi my name is heather. I work for a school for children with autism. we have many stimmers. If the child is a flapper tell him or her hands down. If he or she is a visual stimmer block their view of what they are stimming on. But dont stop them completely from stimmy. set certain times during the day and set a timer for about 2-5 minutes every hour. then slowly shorten the time. give them reinforces throughout the day to tell them that they are doing a good job. also children with autism need a solid schedule. we use picture symbols with the word on it for the non-speakers. If you want the website let me know. if you need to know anything else e-mail me at Angelistic1983@yahoo.com

Hi Sherry and Sandy,

I am interested in the sensory integration therapy that you had mentioned. I think that my son has sensory issues and may benefit from something like this. What do they do in the therapy and where do you find these services? Is it expensive? Do you think it has been helpful to help reduce behaviors that may be related to sensory issues? Thank you so much. :)

Becky

My son has been showing behaviors lately that I suppose you could call stimming. His teacher told me that at school he is fascinated/obsessed with the clock on the wall - not sure whether it's the movement of the hands or that it makes a slight noise. When the children sit on the floor for circle time, my son's regular spot is close to the clock where he can just look up and easily see it. He will sit there the whole time and sort of flick his fingers on his chest really fast, and he also has strange facial movements with his eyes and mouth that he does when he's excited. I wonder if a weighted vest would help settle him down at circle time? We've also seen an increase in the finger-flicking and facial movements since we put up the Christmas tree at home. He gets excited by the blinking lights and his little fingers will go crazy. Is there something we should do to decrease this kind of activity or should we let him do it since he doesn't know any other way to express himself?

Have any of you noticed that stimming decreases as your child has gotten older?

When my grandson was about 8 I asked him what the stimming did for him. He said they made him feel happy. I asked him if he could save them for his private place, because it sometimes annoyed or irritated people. He seemed fine with that and surprised me by actually following through with very little reminding. Within a year it seemed that the activity decreased and I rarely see or hear it anymore. He has just turned 13 and is in the 7th grade.