2 questions
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2 questions
| Tue, 02-21-2006 - 8:25am |
First question--I have noticed posts about many kids spinning things or lining things up. At what age does this begin? Or does it just vary?
Second question--Jacob has been doing this weird thing vocally. He has a few words, but lately he has been making inflection sounds with his mouth closed. Like he is humming. Last night I was counting, 1,2,3 and he did it too, but with his mouth closed. How can I get him to vocalize more? This morning he was giving me lots of jibberish noises which is great, but I can't stand the humming thing.
Thanks
Sonya
Second question--Jacob has been doing this weird thing vocally. He has a few words, but lately he has been making inflection sounds with his mouth closed. Like he is humming. Last night I was counting, 1,2,3 and he did it too, but with his mouth closed. How can I get him to vocalize more? This morning he was giving me lots of jibberish noises which is great, but I can't stand the humming thing.
Thanks
Sonya

Hi Sonya,
I am sure there is a lot of variability in when children start stimming. My son was spinning anything and everything by the time he was one year old. He didn't start lining things up, though, until recently, at about age 3.
It's hard to know about the humming without being there. My son "hums" and does vocal noises as a part of stimming. He usually hums and grinds his teeth at the same time and I believe it is a stress-reducing mechanism.
As for getting Jacob to talk more, I can't remember how old he is and if he is in ST?
Except for a few mono-syllable "words" that only I understood, my son didn't really talk until we started intensive ST when he was almost 2, but then he took off, sure and steady. He didn't babble at all. What worked for Eric at that early stage was a kind of ABA approach to speech. Using a reward to get him to work. He like bubbles, so I remember the therapist blowing a bubble, then trying to bet Eric to say "more." Things like that. Could you give a few more details about Jake's speech and maybe we could give you more ideas?
Katherine
He occasionally points to pictures in books, but not consistently. He will go to pages he likes (horses), look up at me and then make a horse sound or wait for me to make horse sounds. THe humming could be sensory or stress related (although how much stress does a 16 month old have?) He does grind his teeth too, but I think that's related to teething.
But like I said, the humming drives me crazy.
Thanks
Sonya
It sounds like you and Jacob are doing great and a lot farther along than we were in getting Eric to speak at that age. Eric had no signs and didn't do the "more" thing until we began EI and started to do things consistent with the therapist. Eric had good receptive speech too and could always point out things in books. But he would not always respond to having his name called and tended to "zone out" to language for the most part. He would take me by the hand and lead me to things too. Some people call that "autistic leading" but I did not know it at the time.
I should clarify that Eric did not start the humming teeth grinding thing until he started pre-K this year, which is why I relate it to stress. School is stressful for Eric, although he is in an ESE program and doing well. For your guy that may not be the reason and it may be teething too. Don't know about the humming, it probably is sensory, but I know plenty of spectrum children have vocal stims, although of course I don't know if this is what Jacob is doing. It can be annoying, I agree.
Thinking back, I believe Eric must have had more of a delay than it sounds like Jake has. I remember now that before we got to the "more" stage we spent a lot of time teaching Eric how to imitate actions before getting to imitating sounds and then words. I think you should feel good that Jake already can do this, since he know signs and you are already working on getting him to verbalize to have his needs met.
What has always worked with Eric is finding out what he will work for, at first it was bubbles, later play doh, then playing cars or more recently Thomas trains. Some people use food or treats. We have done that with other things (potty training), but not as much with speech (except for "more" and later "I want.") Our therapists use reinforcers to motivate him, often incorporating them into the session, and he can have the prize if he completes the verbal task. You are already doing that so to me it sounds like you are ahead of the game, just keep it up all the time as you go through your day with Jacob.
I bet once you start speech therapy with EI he will do well. If I can think of any other tips I'll let you know. I am sure others here will have good ideas too.
Katherine