Vocal Stims

Did you know coconuts have water in them?

I think it’s fair to say a lot of us who have a child on the autistic spectrum have heard the word ‘stimming’ banded about just plenty. For our family, the common hand flapping stim (one which is often taken as an early indicator of autism in babies and toddlers) has never occurred here. Our son’s never really flapped his hands in excitement or frustration and instead, stims in his world lean towards being more vocal. As a stranger or someone who doesn’t spend that much time with him, you probably wouldn’t even notice because they’re not parroted frequently enough in a short space of time. But for those of us who do live with him, they’re part of his usual conversations and ones which actually give us a handy insight in to his mood.

His vocal stims can display themselves in a couple of different ways. One is a sudden, explosive outburst of noise; a shout, almost in a roar-like manner. Imitating favourite animals can be relatively common apparently and I’d say this one may possibly have stemmed from an interest in dinosaurs when younger but who knows quite honestly. He doesn’t tend to do this as a sign of anger or frustration, more when he’s feeling energised or commonly… in class when he’s been engrossed in a quiet activity for an extended period of time. It sort of acts as a release and is often combined with a physical movement. A leap in the air or a floor-dive.

The other way is in words or phrases and I’ll be honest, we quite enjoy seeing what his brain latches on to. We obviously don’t make it apparent to him but his dad and I will share a glance and knowing nod when we realise a sentence is here to stay. The glances become more of a troubled stare when it’s a sentence we feel we don’t want bellowed out at the post office.