My 7 year old, who is on the "spectrum", is constantly making some sort of noise, especially in the car. The noises range from sharks (I didn't know sharks made a noise), tornadoes, trains, snakes, Crocadile Hunter impersonations, farts, animal sounds etc... and whenever he can't think of a noise to make he makes what he calls a "metal" sound. It never used to bother me until his school began becoming concerned about how often he makes the noises. Every school year it becomes worse and worse. If anyone else has had the same issue - what should I do to encourage him to save the noises for times when they aren't going to disrupt. We've tried the smiley system, rewards, penalties, visual reminders, and cues.
I don't mean to make you worry or anything, but have you considered Tourette's Syndrome? Sometimes kids with Tourette's have tics and must make noises as part of the tics. I have also seen kids with Tourette's who call their noises metal sounds, so I just wanted to suggest that as a possibility that he may not be able to control it.
Have they tried playing soothing music around him? Or sending him to another room until he feels as though the noises have passes?
As a school counselor I worked with a child similar to this but would repeat cartoons NON-STOP!! It got frustrating for those around him, but we simply would tell him, when you feel like you need to make noise, please excuse yourself and go to the noise room (it was a spare room we had in the school). The teacher would then set a timer for 5 minutes, after that time if he was not back on his own, another student would go and get him. This gave him respect of not getting picked on by other students as well a chance to do something that he truly could not help.
Good luck!! Sometimes you have to work with the noises in order for them to go away!
Hello,
Here is another link for you to try. http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/index.php
There is a thread there for Asperger's and a thread for Child Neurology. This forum is for ppl living with and/or caring for ppl with neurologic problems.
HTH
I agree with the other post, you should see if he also has tourettes....my nephew has aspergers with tourettes.
My husband is a Spec. Ed Teacher that works closely with Autistic children. He has many links and suggestions for you, here is his email ____@____.com highly recommends going to the Autism Institute web site too if you haven't already.
