Scripting question | Autism PDD
This is a great article and made me feel a whole lot better about things!
http://groups.msn.com/TheAutismHomePage/echolaliafacts.msn w
Paul used to approach kids his own age with a bunch of scripting but it's much, much better. i would try all the things mentioned but if I cound'nt get him re-directed or if his anxiety was really high I'd let it go. Otherwise I'd keep challenging him, telling him I did't unerstand. I never let him know that I knew the sccript--just said and showed him I was totally confused. Then I'd give up and tell him how much I wish I knew what he was talking about but I didn't.
As he has gotten older I'll ask him ifwants friends? Always he says yes. I'll say then stop________________ and you can. Honey kids done't understand whaqt you're doing--they just think you're weird.
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My son Ryan has been doing this for the last 4months or so when he didn't do it before. It too scares me, I know how you feel.
I think when Ryan does this most of the time he is upset about something. I think it is for him his way of trying to calm himself.
Lately... he is scripting from the movie Incredibles...just one seen at the dinner table..he know all the words.
I do try to redirect when he does this.
Wish I could help more...
Kelly
Ryan 4 yrs
Our son wakes up scripting.
He has real language, too, so it's not the end of the world, but he can be really hard to redirect.
yes, my dd wakes up scripting too
Hello Sallys...
My 3 1/2 year old son scripts quite a bit and we have seen an overall
increase in it over the last 6 months. For him, I believe he uses it
for different reasons. For communication, stimming, and organizing
himself.
If he is using it in context/for communication I try to take the
portion that is appropriate and talk about that (he was on a "Where the
Wild Things Are" kick and anytime he didn't want me to leave him he
would say "please don't go, we'll eat you up we love you so" and I
would repeat "please don't go"....so you want me to stay?...and then he
will typically say something like "stay" or "I want you to stay"..
When it's a stim, I try to redirect as much as possible. A suggestion
that was given to me by the behaviorist who writes our home ABA program
is to try to redirect with some type of physical action such as touch
your toes or bring that book to me - her explanation was
that it uses a different part of the brain than the part used for
language (I am not an expert nor a Doctor myself and have found that
this doesn't always work but thought I would share it). I know when xxx
is in full scripting mode, he can script, bring me a book, and
pick up where he left off in his script. There are times when the drive
is so strong. I think redirection with something that is not too
positively reenforcing is key.
I know it is one of our biggest challenges and I wish you the best....I am learning from everyone's posts on this as well..
We start speech therapy next week and this is certainly one of the
first things I'll be talking to them about. We'll let you know of any
techniques we learn over time. We're desperately hoping he can turn his
echolalia into real language, but it does seem like a stim for him, so
only time will tell.
We used to try to interact with the echolalia, but that rarely works
unless we're simply filling in holes in the script. Lately, we've been
SERIOUSLY rewarding "good" speech and ignoring the stuff we don't like
or saying "that makes me uncomfortable" when he gets loud or manic
about the scripting. It's a new technique on our part -- I'll let you
know if that bears any fruit.
My Step Son is almost 10 and this is a regular thing with him too.........complete scripts from Movies, Cartoons..etc...........He has been scripting from Thomas the Tank Engine shows since he was almost 2...........Curtis has always been very verbal.........we too notice it is more at an extreme when he is frustrated or stressed out..............but his therapist seems to believe it is similiar to a stim because it offers him the same escape when he is overly frustrated......he doesn't do much stimming ....he has done more stimming in the last few months than he has ever done in his little life but that it is due to some emotional stessor we currently have going on that is out of our control..........he also is doing my more scripting with longer movies.........it used to be only short 30 minute stories now he does 3 hour movies..........He is also very high functioning............we do try to divert him.........mostly as he has gotten older it doesn't work.........we are still working to come up with stradgedy to redirect him.........Good luck.........
I don't have an answer, just want to say that I'm also interested in learning more. This is Jacob's biggest "symptom," and when he has big Elmo days, I also feel powerless, helpless and scared.
I'll be happy to share with you how I make sense out of it. But, as always and especially because you are so concerned, please talk to her dr. and ST and any professionals with whom you are working.
Because these children are so different even when demonstrating the "same" symptom, my experience of scripting may not be helpful to you. But....Paul (HFA 10 yr old) has always scripted a lot. Still does. With all of the symptoms I try to look at the function it is serving at the time. For me, all of the symtoms can be traced back to one issue--Paul's struggle for self organization and self regulation. So whether it's a stim or an obsessive/compulsive or a sensory integration thing doesn't matter to me. At different times behviors serve different needs and they overlap, ie an SI issue can become obsessive, etc.
So, Paul often does it to calm himself--it is predictable, it is something he can do/say that is pleasurable. Sometimes I can see a correlation between the video passage and the emotion that I think he is feeling but can't express in a traditional way.
Paul also will use snippets from scripts and use them appropriately. Right now he is in to saying "very well then" in a rote way but using it at appropriate times. It's from something. Eventually he will take that and change it up and make it his own and it becomes part of his more "normal" language.
What I do when he does this--and he has done this since he was 3--is to try to re-direct. Of course, we all do that when they are demonstrating some dysfunctional behavior. However, if Paul seems to need it, really need it because of something that has happened--his Dad not visiting--a crazy day at school--then I let him just do his thing as long as he is not a danger to himself or others.
You need to get input from your team to find out how to work with it in your situation. In my situation--sometimes I try to stop it--sometimes I don't. It's very dependent on your child.
I'll throw anther thing in here. You sound very worried, which is totally understandable. But I know that when I'm worried or upset (which was more when he was younger) he would be "worse". Once I saw that I learned to leave him alone and get myself centered before I interacted with him. He was usually a lot more responsive once I let go of whatever was getting to me. And sometimes....Mommy is on a time-out!! And that's ok too. You can't do it all every day. It's not possible.
Let us know how it goes and what your team has to say about it. I'm sorry you're so worried. The whole thing is maddening. But we're here.
pat
I think I've probably asked this before or someone else has, but I'm still confused on whether "scripting" (reciting long passages from movies, tv, books, etc.) is considered a vocal stim? If so, does that mean it should be interrupted/redirected all the time? What does it mean if dd can't be redirected? Does anyone know WHY or what purpose scripting serves.
My dd does it a lot and it definitely seems to be a comforting thing to her (she also does it to go to sleep at night). I know she had a hard day at school today because they weren't allowed outside (pesticide spraying) and 2 classes were combined so she was stuck inside with 20 kids or so and everything was done a different way - the school even made the kids take their shoes off to avoid tracking pesticide (maybe no big deal for most kids but my dd has a real THING about keeping her shoes and socks on so it was quite an uncomfortable position for her to be in all morning). Her teacher told me she lied on the floor most of the morning. Well, not a big shocker there! I had no idea so no way to even try to prepare her.
So all afternoon she's been reciting from one of her favorite movies and doesn't want to interact with me. I try but no go. Then I start to feel so sad, powerless and helpless. Even scared. When I look at autism books or online they talk about scripting or "delayed echolalia" or whatever it's called but it's always just a paragraph or two about the fact that they do it. Nowhere have I found a good exploration of why or what it means or what I should do or what it feels like for the parent to witness that day in and day out. It just glares out at me when she does it...it's such a classic symptom. But WHAT IS IT??? Does anyone know?
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