This is Sam stimming with books (the voice in the video is Maya who is a bit jealous because she wants to make a video too). He does this most of his waking hours when he is in the house. When he is out of the house he does the same action but with other objects. The resulting mess is maddening. The sound of books hitting the floor still makes me cringe. We make him "clean up" but it has no effect on the behavior.
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What is it with watching things fall? It drives me mad too. Khaled likes to put things on the shelves and shake them until they fall...or just throws things in the air and watches them fall. Its the thing he goes to when he doesn't want to think of anything to do - like complete mindlessness. Rarely will he stop and think and ask me for something like trains or potato head etc. But favourite stim/mindless behavior is throwing things and watching them fall. or just throwing them across the room and jumping up and down and then going to get them and repeat.
yes, just like that! It started three years ago and despite three different behaviorists coming in, it has only gotten worse. Now it is pretty much the only thing he does all day long!
Emma,
Have you considered packing up all of the books and putting them away where he can't get them, and then keeping a few around he can earn as reinforcement for playing appropriately?
Will he play with any toys appropriately if he is prompted?
Thanks for the suggestions. I packed all my daughter's books away in her room and gated it so her stuff is safe.
I have been thinking about putting the books away but there are a number of issues with that. The first is that he will just transfer the behavior to something else. This behavior has been going on for three years in various forms. He used to do the same thing with his plastic blocks. We are running out of storage space to put things we don't want him to get. Also, I am an English teacher and many of the books are things I need to use on a somewhat regular basis. I may have to put them away at some point but I am hoping to fins another solution.
Sam will not play with toys appropriately. He can do a simple puzzle if you stand over him and force it but that is it. Since age 3 he has regressed and he is so far in his ow world these days - it is very sad. i am hoping with additional home therapy we can make some progress
Do you have any ABA support?
I would try to:
1. Teach him how to play with at least three toys appropriately even with prompting.
2. See if you can get him to follow an activity schedule.
Obviously I am grossly oversimplifying but if he could follow a play schedule to do a puzzle, put pegs in a pegboard and read a book for three minutes, that's three minutes of productive time you don't have to watch him. Then you go up from there.
Oh my goodness! This is exactly what Nick used to do with everything! He loved to watch things drop. I agree, the sound of things dropping to the floor made me stir crazy.
What part of NJ are you in? Is it fairly easy to get medicaid?
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