Bedroom Fixation

[Jadzia Dax]

Has anyone else had a problem with their child not wanting to leave their bedroom? How did you solve it? My daughter will come out for a brief time to eat ect but then has to go straight back again. Food is eaten at break neck speed, bathroom is used only if she is reassured she'll be able to go back to Bedroom afterwards but she wants the door open so that she can see her room. It is driving us MAD! We are using visual timetables with her which now include a bedroom time but she is not co operating, we have today removed her dolls so that she has the incentive to work along her timetable to get to bedroom time and have her dolls back-no luck she did token craft activity then returned to her room and won't be coaxed out! Whilst in her bedroom she chants/shouts random phrases over and over (during the night as well as daytime!)

 

Any ideas anyone please?

 

 

[Shnoing]

Has she any topics of special interest? You could try to motivate her.

To keep her dolls from her won't work, because she will not make the connection between her behaviour, your reaction and the consequences - she'll just think you're mean to her without any reason.

[Sally44]

Has anyone else had a problem with their child not wanting to leave their bedroom? How did you solve it? My daughter will come out for a brief time to eat ect but then has to go straight back again. Food is eaten at break neck speed, bathroom is used only if she is reassured she'll be able to go back to Bedroom afterwards but she wants the door open so that she can see her room. It is driving us MAD! We are using visual timetables with her which now include a bedroom time but she is not co operating, we have today removed her dolls so that she has the incentive to work along her timetable to get to bedroom time and have her dolls back-no luck she did token craft activity then returned to her room and won't be coaxed out! Whilst in her bedroom she chants/shouts random phrases over and over (during the night as well as daytime!)

 

Any ideas anyone please?

 

The repeating of dialogue is echolalia, or delayed echolalia. It means she has acquired speech differently to other children. She has not learnt the meaning of individual words. She lifts whole scripts from TV/DVDs and may use them appropriately, rather like a verbal jigsaw puzzle. My son repeats dialogue. He used to do it alot, and would go on for a couple of hours before he could sleep. I just assumed that he had 'recorded' all this dialogue throughout the day and was replaying it to either make sense of it, or get it out of his system. As he got older he did get better. But he still repeats. He also does this because he likes it and he can replay in his head any TV programme or film.

If your child has this type of speech they need to be having input from a speech therapist, and need all aspects of their speech and comprehension and social communication skills assessed.

 

Now, how to get her out of her bedroom. How old is she? Does she go to school?

Her bedroom is probably her santuary. It is predictable and safe to her.

As suggested use her interests to get her out of the bedroom. If she likes TV let her watch TV downstairs. If she has a TV in the bedroom remove it. Keep any out of bedroom time very simple and predictable to begin with. Eg. to come downstairs to watch her favourite TV programme and eat her food and then she can return upstairs.

Is there anything downstairs she may not be able to tolerate eg. cooking smells, noises etc.

[Jadzia Dax]

I don't mind her being in her bedroom as it is as safe as we can make it but my biggest issue is that she runs off after every meal & every essential activity outside the bedrrom has become a battle ground (bathing for example). It has been a horrendous weekend (Hubbie & I are now stressed at each other & he needs to do some work today from home!) My daughter's special school are very supportive (SALT, Behaviour specialist ect advising) but they wonder if as she is 10yrs old if her behaviour is hormone driven. She is also becoming more challenging at school and in general avtivities that she loved she is now difficult with.

 

The chanting is a bit like a reception age child going over their day at school so it is sometimes nice to listen and find out what she does at school (other than telling me when asked what she has had for dinner she rarely tells me things). The issue here, for me is the loudness, frequency and repetition but it would be maybe more tolerable if not coupled with the bedroom issue.

 

Thanks for giving me some feedback, its nice to let off steam sometimes to others who know what it's like.