Kristys - my wife is a first grade teacher with a loud teacher voice when she reprimands our son. I will have her try your suggestions. Thank you. See with Us its Oposite. Rissa listens to me, but not her Dad. She has a hard time listening to anyone other than me and seems to be emotionally closer to me which is why I get such a strong and positive response. Maybe its just that he feels closer to you?Sarah responded to me well but not dh..she had a high pitched voice and people told me I do too..she always responded to sing songy shows on TV also and the therapists that were perky cheerleader types got her attn. more than the low key very passive types....have your wife play around with her voice to see what he responds to and over time slowly have her fade back in her normal tone when he has mastered listening and tuning in to her commands:) Good luck!
Are you and your wife equally consistent on following through with established consequences for non-compliant behavior?
[QUOTE=Payne's Mom]it has SOMETHING to do with the tones and octaves [/QUOTE]
I have read this in one of my autism books, but for the life of me I can't remember which book. I do recall the scenario I read about was the opposite of this. The father had a deep booming voice and the mom's voice was softer and higher pitched. The OT coached the father how to talk softer and at a higher pictch, more like a woman's voice, and the child started to respond.
How different are your voices? Does your wife have a high-pitched voice like some women do? And does she go even higher when she talks to your son? Many women raise their voice an octave or two when talking to a small child. Does she do this? Can she try dropping it down a few octaves and try a more deeper "guy voice" with your son?
My ds Zachary is 4.0. He has some verbal skills, will point, will identify objects, and has made good progress through his preschool. He listens very well to me. However, he doesn't listen to his mother well at all. If she asks him to do something, he giggles, laughs strangely, and yells. It is the same story when she reprimands him. If I even look at him sternly when he misbehaves, he stops and falls into line. Do any of you have any ideas for my wife as to how to get him to listen to her? I swear...we've had this problem too...it has SOMETHING to do with the tones and octaves. Try doing more visually reprimands - I don't even talk to Payne (at least didn't until he had better comprehension) - I'd put him in his timeout chair, set the timer and after that I'd just point to the chair...I'd shake my head, arms folded across my body when he was doing something not allowed. Talking didn't do any good for him b/c he couldn't understand what I was saying/meaning.