Verbal Stimming

How can I reduce verbal stimming? My son says random things that are not functional.

Answer:

Thank you for your question! Depending on the age of your son and how often his stimming is occurring there are a few things we can do here.
1. Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD): This intervention can be labor intensive, but has proven to be very effective for children and adults on the spectrum. Whenever your son is stimming you are going to engage him in functional speech and/or motor movements. Typically we do functional speech for verbal stimming and motor movements for motor stimming (ex. hand flapping), but you can do both. The functional speech redirection can be anything from "What's your name? How old are you?" to "Say red, say blue, say Elmo." RIRD does two things to decrease stimming: 1. It interrupts the stimming and redirects it to something more functional. 2. It tends to annoy the child to the point that they are less likely to stim because they do not want to do the RIRD procedure! This takes time, it is not an immediate fix. You need to be consistent and make sure everyone in the home is on board, but it works!
2. Red/Green Board: I talked about this in a Masterclass call recently. You can use verbal stimming as a reinforcer! Print out or color a piece of paper. One side red and one side green. Explain to your son that when the card is green, he can engage in stimming. When the card is red, he needs to keep a "quiet voice" or choose a phrase that you think he would best understand. I like to do "green time" in private areas like a child's bedroom, in the bathroom, in the car, etc. But you can also use it as a reinforcer. For example, you can tell him, "It's going to be red during dinner, but when you are done with your dinner I will flip it to green." Then after dinner he can have "green time" for 5 minutes. Depending on what you think your son will understand, you may have to start with very short red intervals and longer green intervals. Then slowly start increasing the red intervals (30 seconds to 1 minute) if he is doing well keeping a "quiet voice." I have clients that have gotten to the point where they get access to "green time" a few times a day and the majority of their time is "red time." It's great!
They are both great interventions, but pick what you think would be best for your son. Please let me know if you have any follow up questions. Good luck!

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60 thoughts on “Verbal Stimming”

  1. Thank you for your question! Depending on the age of your son and how often his stimming is occurring there are a few things we can do here.
    1. Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD): This intervention can be labor intensive, but has proven to be very effective for children and adults on the spectrum. Whenever your son is stimming you are going to engage him in functional speech and/or motor movements. Typically we do functional speech for verbal stimming and motor movements for motor stimming (ex. hand flapping), but you can do both. The functional speech redirection can be anything from “What’s your name? How old are you?” to “Say red, say blue, say Elmo.” RIRD does two things to decrease stimming: 1. It interrupts the stimming and redirects it to something more functional. 2. It tends to annoy the child to the point that they are less likely to stim because they do not want to do the RIRD procedure! This takes time, it is not an immediate fix. You need to be consistent and make sure everyone in the home is on board, but it works!
    2. Red/Green Board: I talked about this in a Masterclass call recently. You can use verbal stimming as a reinforcer! Print out or color a piece of paper. One side red and one side green. Explain to your son that when the card is green, he can engage in stimming. When the card is red, he needs to keep a “quiet voice” or choose a phrase that you think he would best understand. I like to do “green time” in private areas like a child’s bedroom, in the bathroom, in the car, etc. But you can also use it as a reinforcer. For example, you can tell him, “It’s going to be red during dinner, but when you are done with your dinner I will flip it to green.” Then after dinner he can have “green time” for 5 minutes. Depending on what you think your son will understand, you may have to start with very short red intervals and longer green intervals. Then slowly start increasing the red intervals (30 seconds to 1 minute) if he is doing well keeping a “quiet voice.” I have clients that have gotten to the point where they get access to “green time” a few times a day and the majority of their time is “red time.” It’s great!
    They are both great interventions, but pick what you think would be best for your son. Please let me know if you have any follow up questions. Good luck!

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