Is this a coping strategy?

[Rachey]

DS came home from school today in a bit of a state. He had been sent out of history class (which he loves) because he was muttering.

 

He said to help him concentrate he rhymnes words in his head (will start on 'a' and say ant, rant etc). He said someone heard him and thought he was saying things about them, told the teacher and Ds was removed from class.

 

He used to roll his pencil up and down the desk in infant school, but this stopped when all pencils were taken off him, so could it be what he does to replace that?

 

He is 11 if that helps

 

Rachey

[Cat]

 

This sounds like a coping strategy/stim to me. You can not take away something that an autistic child needs to do to help them cope and not give them a replacement. Rhyming words in his is fine it's other children hearing those mutterings which is not so fine. I would be having a word with the teacher/senco or whoever it is appropriate to speak to if I were you. A gentle reminder that he should keep his thoughts to himself would be appropriate but not sending him out of the class. The Disability Discrimination Act says that schools have to make reasonable adjustments and that means they make adjustments to support a pupil not punish them. However the school need to be aware of these things before they can make adjustments.

 

Cat

 

 

 

Rachey

 

[Rachey]

Thanks Cat

 

I'm going to speak to his SENCO after the holidays about it.

 

He never gets upset about anything, but was really agitated yesterday. If it was a lesson he hated I probably wouldn't mind, but he absolutely loves history

 

Rachey

[Cat]

Thanks Cat

 

I'm going to speak to his SENCO after the holidays about it.

 

He never gets upset about anything, but was really agitated yesterday. If it was a lesson he hated I probably wouldn't mind, but he absolutely loves history

 

Rachey

 

That is why it is important that you speak to someone and bring them up tp speed. It would be terrible if a lesson that he loves is ruined because of lack of understanding. Your son is also at an age where he is approaching puberty and this might increase the need for coping strategies. The school also needs to be aware of this and to be prepared to work with you on that one. Hope it goes well.

 

Cat

[Sally44]

I agree that no behaviour should be attempted to be removed without finding out what it was being used for.

My own son repeats TV and DVD dialogue alot. He has been taught to do it quieter. Now he just mutters quietly to himself sometimes. But if school are just aware of what he is actually doing that should help. My son re-runs DVDs in his head. He does this because he enjoys it, and he also does it when he is bored, doesn't understand, or doesn't know any other options of what to do. For example he used to do it alot at playtime and would walk up and down the fence line re-running dialogue. I spoke with school and the SALT about this because I know that given the choice, and the skills, he would prefer to play with other children. So they have worked alot with this and have taught him scripts to join in and have practiced initiating conversation. Now he rarely does it, and school know that if he is seen doing this for the majority of playtime that they need to look again to check that he is still using those skills he was taught.

As your son has said he uses it to concentrate, that is what it does for him. It might be worth looking deeper into it to see if there is something environmental that is causing him to need to use this strategy eg. a fan humming or a light flickering etc.