DD started whispering in public a few months ago...which I guess is better than not talking at all. She will talk in her normal voice around people she knows but she isn't talking to them or answering questions but the sound level is normal. Any recommendations? I've tried whispering back like a game...I say, oh let's pretend we are at the library.... Or I say, it' ok to use your normal voice. I'm glad she talks at all because she is anxious and silent around strangers, especially kids so this is an improvement. She is hypersensitive to sounds (stops what she is doing to listen to clocks, etc.) Don't know if that is related. My son tends to speak quietly when in busy places and no one can hear him. Our ABA consultant just added programs for him to imitate a loud voice, normal voice and whisper voice. She observed him in school and noticed he was very quiet when he spoke. It's actually funny now, he can imitate the loud and soft, and we are working on normal. Then, the idea will be to genralize that into other settings. A visual aid might help. I don't really have any other ideas at this point--just wanted to try to help.
I've never dealt with this problem, but I saw that no one answered your question so I thought I'd take a stab at it. Hopefully then someone else will see your question and answer on the basis of experience.
If you're not doing so already, make sure you praise and reward any attempts to switch from whispering to a normal voice, even if it's just a word or two.
You might also try a visual cue, like a 5 point scale. Here's an example on voice modulation from the book the "Incredible 5 Point Scale" by Kari Dunn Buron and Mitzi Curtis (a paraphrase, not an excerpt):
They had an ASD/Asperger's kid that was screaming in class all day. They created a 5-point scale where '1' was no speech, '2' was a whispered voice, '3' was appropriate voice, '4' was a loud/playground voice and '5' was screaming. Then the classroom and building staff each had a copy of the scale on the back of their security tags and when they heard the student using inappropriate volume, they would point to the desired number on the scale. They also did a social story; the two techniques eventually helped the student figure out and use the correct volume.
You don't need to buy the book to do a 5 point scale. Just create a table with 5 rows in Word, and add numbers and cartoons/photos to depict the various tones of voice.
Good luck with everything.
Here's an ABA drill sheet for voice modulation.
http://www.autism-help.org/autism-downloads/aba-voice-modula tion.pdf
However, I wonder if just pretending the child has a volume knob might help. Start by playing with a stereo that has a volume knob, and then play a game where the child makes his/her voice louder or softer when you turn/down up the volume by for example lifting their arm for louder and lowering it for softer. Then maybe you can use that cue in a more challenging setting.
We are still working on the whispering! She has been at preschool for 2 wks and is talking which is a fantanastic and she seems so calm at school. But is still whispering. It's almost like selective mutism! The second she gets in the car when I pick her up she uses her normal tone "big girl voice".
Nicky does this! How funny you should mention it, as just yesterday I took the boys out around town for the Halloween "scavenger hunt". They have to stop at all the loca stores, and say to the clerk, Boo Bash Boo Bash Gimme Your Stash .. I had to say it in Nick's ear at each and every store and he would repeat to the clerk in this faint little whisper.
If they only knew how loud he could get at home!
(ps - yesterday went GREAT! He got through the whole "hunt" happy and successfully)
I am dealing with something similiar with Nikolas. His isn't really whispering, but he is extremely soft spoken and if you aren't paying attention you will think he is babbling to himself. We discovered in therapy last month just how much he was doing this, which now has us wondering how much conversational language he really has that we didn't know about cause we all thought he was babbling. I am almost positive his has to do with lack of confidence. He has always been the type almost afraid of failure, any kind of failure. So we try to make things so he can't fail. He has gotten so much better with other things, I am hoping the confidence with speaking to others will increase and he will lose that soft spoken tone he has. Its almost like he's afraid to speak up.