Vocal Stimming

When my son lost all language, the only sounds he would make were repetitive humming noises. His Speech Therapist didn’t know how long it would take him to gain his language back, so she taught him sign language, so we could communicate. After six months of signing and getting tubes in his ears, my son slowly started speaking words again.

As time went on, and his language grew, the only time he made repetitive noises was when he was nervous and self soothing. These days vocal stims appear maybe two to three times a month.

Yesterday, our family tried something new. We decided to go to a skating rink. The skating rink was dark with loud music. It also had a lot of visual movement with people skating in a circle with flashing lights. On top of all this, we were going to try skating for the first time (which is not an easy task for a child with a developmental coordination disorder).

As soon as we entered, my son began chewing on his sleeve. Once the skates were on, the vocal stimming started. We did two laps to see if it would stop once he got more comfortable ( since he stims when nervous). As we skated around, I tried to help him focus on something to ease his anxiety. I showed him the murals on the wall, and we looked for pictures (like I Spy).  After those laps, the stimming was still present, so I brought him some sour sticks to suck on. After sucking on the candy, the stimming stopped. He became relaxed in this new environment and skated! He even sang some of the songs while skating and laughing. I was so proud. We had a really good time.

These situations have not always been this easy. Therapy for four years has helped a lot. Over the years, I have also found out what works best for my child. In this journey there is a lot of trial and error.

If your child is doing vocal stims, you can help by replacing that stimming behavior with something else:

·         singing

·         blowing- bubbles, gum, whistles, instruments

·         sucking- sour candy, hard candy, lollipop

·         chewing- gum, crunchy snacks

It also is important to find the cause of the stim. For my son, it is usually anxiety. Once he feels safe and regulated he is fine.

I hope our story brings you hope and helps you on your journey!