Child with Asd Who Is Humming and Singing All Day Long-moms, Did Your Child Ever

I honestly don't know if my kid suffers from ASD or ADD or any disorders because the doctors never said anything and I never asked, but I can honestly say, my kid never shuts up. All. Day. Long. It's non stop. She sings, she hums, when she's not singing or humming, she's playing pretend which involves talking in high pitched voices of her stuffed animals. When she's not doing that she's asking me questions. Her voice never turns off from the time she wakes up till the time she goes to bed I can hear her all through the house. If I don't hear her, I worry she choked on something and died. Turns out... she shuts up when she's pooping. Lol.

My husband gave her his old gameboy on her fifth birthday and it was like magic. When she's playing it, she's absorbed and silent. It was pretty amazing. When I need a few minutes of quiet, I admit, I use the game boy to save my sanity.

Nicole P,, I am laughing! My grand daughter sounds like your daughter! NON STOP all day...except when shes on the toilet. lol But the instant you hear the plop,, she starts talking again. It is sweet, cute, funny, annoying, tiring, and can drive you nuts.

My son is 5 and not high functioning and nonverbal. He does babble and sing constantly but I've found that it lessens when he's engaged in something visually stimulating.

my son doesn't have ASD or anything else - he's just a squirrelly 5 year old. and he does this constantly. he's NEVER just quiet. he is either humming or singing a song, making car noises, whatever. he even makes "mmmmmmmmmm" noises when he's NOT playing cars. i am like you, sometimes it's cute, entertaining, sometimes it drives me batty. maybe it's something to do with his diagnosis, but maybe it's just a kid thing :)

What your child is doing, this stimming, is also called Perseveration. It's actually very beneficial to your child. I know that it can get annoying, especially the verbal stimming, ESPECIALLY when it's echolalia. It can take the form of physical stimming, such as spinning, tapping, rocking, flapping, hopping, jumping, repeating words or phrases, various repetitive behaviors, etc.

Stimming, ie Perseveration can:

Help people with ASD focus on a task.
Help them self-soothe.
Self-stimulate... sometimes beneficially, sometimes not.
Help organize thoughts.
Help as a coping strategy.
Help release nervous energy.

Some people believe that stimming isn't beneficial because it can over-excite a child or inhibit them. It's also sometimes believed that stimming reinforces only these behaviors and keeps a child from concentrating and learning other techniques that are more beneficial forms of self-soothing.

The biggest problem from stimming seems to really be the concern that it's stigmatizing socially. The fact is that EVERYONE stims. Do you ever tap your pencil or shake your leg nervously? Do you chew on pen caps? Twirl your hair around your finger? Hum a favorite tune when writing a letter or blog? Those are all stimming.

But we want our kids to fit in, so most often parents try to "stop stimming." The problem is you can't stop one behavior without replacing it with another. If you want him to stop the humming and singing, because it's disruptive to other students, try to limit it to safe zones in the home. Give him permission to do it in his bedroom and the bathroom. But try to help him find something he can replace the humming and singing with when he feels the need to stim at school and in public, and practice it with him in the common areas at home. Maybe put a special bracelet on his wrist that he can touch occasionally or something else discreet. His therapists at school should be able to help find something and incorporate it into his IEP.

Everything Nicole P said is exactly the same for my 3.5 year old daughter... singing, humming, making up songs, stories, asking me questions ALL DAY long. My DD doesn't have ASD and literally everything Nicole P said is the same for my daughter..

My LFA cousin is in his 30's and still hums, sings almost continuously. He's at the mental age of somewhere between 18mo & 3 years depending on the situation. There's no adjusting it in any way (it's often a drone with different pitch for emotion), but as I said.. he's low functioning.

Many HFA parents, I know though, take advantage via singing lessons. Private or group depending on the kiddo. Actually, a couple of the best opera singers in the world are HFA folk. Career or not, though, improving the musicality of the singing and humming lowers the stress level of those around them!!!