Scripting

May 15, 2002

Jerry,

I guess the reason we (my daughter's Team and I) are concerned is that

Mackenzie's scripts are a self-reinforcing stim for her. She does it nearly

every waking moment, and yes when she does use a rote script in an

appropriate way we reinforce her. This is just the way she is going to

learn to communicate. She has always had speech and perfect articulation,

so changing verbalizations into words has never been an issue for us. I

would definitely not discourage a child from scripting if that is the only

verbalizations they are currently capable of. For our situation, my

daughter's verbalizations (scripts) make her look odd and she interrupts her

kindergarten class, as she is sometimes unable to stop herself. Our

ultimate goal is to teach her to internalize these scripts, or go covert

with them as we sometimes like to say. Just like you or I get something in

our heads (song lyrics) and can't get rid of it, we want the same for her.

We sometimes try to expand her scripts when she is acting something out with

toys and try to get her to deviate from the original story or add on to it

in a novel way. And she does use lots of rote phrases in appropriate ways,

but usually not in her own voice, so we also work on her saying things in

her own voice. But many times she will just get a handful of phrases in her

head and repeat them over and over. When she is doing this it is very

difficult to intervene, other than trying to join in and make it a silly

game. But then I worry that I am reinforcing the repetition of these

phrases by joining in, so sometimes I just let it go! I also am concerned

that if these scripts are constantly playing in her mind, how can she

concentrate on learning and picking up things from her environment (typical

peers). Another worry is that as she gets older, she will just be the kid

who constantly talks to herself and who no one will want to play with or be

friends with. Since she will be in first grade next year, and I just think

as kids get older they are not as accepting as the pre-schoolers and

kindergarteners are, that's why I worry. I hope this makes a little sense.

Take care,

> Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 13:15:34 -0700

> From: " Jerry " <jerryscott@...>

> Subject: Re: Re: Odd laughter & scripting

>

> I would like to see a little discussion on why you (and others) feel this

is

> " worrisome. " I agree that it is odd, and inappropriate in most social

> settings, but is there an underlying problem that is indicates. I am not

> trying to be argumentative, I just haven't read a lot about it.

>

> My daughter (4.5) does a lot of scripting, mostly unintelligible,

but

> the recognizable words become more and more frequent as she gains language

> ability in general. They are recognizable mainly because she acts them out

> while watches herself in the mirror and often sings the songs that go with

> the movies (made up words, but right on key). We haven't tried to reduce

or

> modify this behavior at all.

>

> I often wonder if this is simply a way for her to process, much as we

might

> replay a scene in our head, or remember a passage from a book. Because of

> that we have not wanted to intervene, although we do hope that the

scripting

> gets internalized at some point.

>

> For comparison my 7 yr old daughter (relatively normal) often acts out

> scenes from movies also while play alone or with friends, she doesn't stay

> as close to the script as seems to, but other than that and having a

> better sense when it is and isn't appropriate, I don't see a lot of

> difference.

>

> Take Care

>

> Jerry

>

May 16, 2002

That makes good sense, thanks for the explanation. I guess basically it is a

frequent distinction in the treatment of autism - at one level we need to get

the children to be functions, but once that is possible, we naturally shift our

emphasis to trying to get them to be more " normal. "

We are still at the functional stage, where 's scripting in more of a

benefit than a distraction. Her is an example of how she has been able to make

functional use of scripting:

In her favorite CD-ROM (The Tortoise and the Hare) A character shouts " Ice

Cream, get your ice cream here. Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry - mmmmm! " After

watching and unintelligibly babbling this a thousand times (the only

recognizable thing was the mmmm! " walked up to me in the kitchen and said

" Ice Cream, mmmm! " in the (same voice as the CD-ROM) to let me know what she

wanted for a snack.

She has done this for several things, but I can see that when (if) she becomes

as verbal as your daughter we will be trying to get it to stop - It can already

get annoying. ;-)

Jerry

May 17, 2002

,

My daughter (4yrs old) also does scripting-I never found anyone who had this

with their child before. She also does it every waking moment of the day-we

have tried to limit her TV time but even 1/2 day is enough for her to grab

onto something and repeat it and repeat it. Any suggestions are helpful. I

also am worried about school for this reason-it is the single biggest

obsticle she has-she is not violent or self abusive-no rocking or

banging-Just this-She is of normal intelligence (can read since age 3) but i

worry that this will be what will make school and her relationships to other

kids so difficult.

I have found that when she is engaged in an activity she enjoys she will stop

so we try to engage her as much as possible-I am just hoping that she will

grow out of it as time goes by and she gets more of her own language but just

reading that someone else is dealing with this makes me feel less alone.

Maura

May 17, 2002

My daughter is almost 8 now..........and her scripting or role playing has

been there all the time. she goes to mainline school with an aide up to 2

hours a day. When i had time and would call into the school at lunchtime to

see her and her big sister........she would be sitting eating her lunch,

then when it was play time, she would either go to the equipment, or simply

go stand somewhere and do her thing, usually humphrey bear or something she

had seen on the kids shows. I would see the other kids giving her strange

looks, but then they would just go off and do their thing....etc. What they

are trying to do with Hannah now is get another child, to try and integrate

her in some kind of play now after the eating time at lunch....not sure how

it is going, haven;t heard anything, but husband is having a meeting with

them next wednesday, so shall find out then no doubt....i know it's hard,

but at a young age, i am utterly amazed at how accepting other kids are of

someone who is a little different to them......how it will be as she gets

older, well, we shall deal with that when the time comes........ Cheryl S

Re: Re: scripting