8 yr old boy growling/screaming throughout the day!

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Hello everyone! I am a new parent here. I am desperately seeking any advice or insight for my son's recent behaviors. He is an 8 yr old, non verbal, "low-functioning" boy. His speech and ABA therapists have been doing facial muscular exercises, so now his oral/ speech muscles have "woken up" finally 2 months ago. But now, over the last month, he has started growling. And the growling has gradually increased in frequency to about once every minute or so, all day, and louder and louder so that now it is at the top of his voice! We are literally becoming deaf and our ears are ringing because it is so loud and frequent! We can't take him out anywhere and we seem to keep him at home more because he's so disruptive to the other people who are trying to eat in restaurants.

We try to lovingly redirect him, or explain that he is too loud and that this not an effective way to communicate, and even send him on time-outs in his room. But I really don't think he has the comprehension or ability to voluntarily stop himself. I know that since he can not speak, that this is a way to get one's attention or request for what he wants. We have PECS and proloquo on Ipod, but he is again quite low functioning that it is difficult for him to even learn this. And in school, the other kids seem to hit him to make him shut up because he comes home with bruises/marks over his body.
HELP! Any thoughts are definitely welcome for this frazzled and desperate family!
Thank you very much for your time on this matter.

Hello LoriSim,
I think that if this behaviour is used for asking something, it can be modeled. Your boy will learn to shape his voice to make a sound that is closer to words. ABA supervisor knows for sure how to do. I think it's something new and interesting for him to use his vocal cords.
I don't try to remove my son's stimmings, but it's also true that he doesn't do it all the day. I was told to make him do something he likes to distract his attention from that stim. Stimming is not compulsive but is something auties like and they will do something else if it's more interesting...
I add, don't be afraid that he will annoy people when you take him out. It's not your fault!

Lori, you might want to try reposting this to the sticky at the top of the page called RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays
It was created for people with kids who have other issues concerning Classic autism, non verbal, ect. Most of the people that post on the rest of the board have kids with Asperger's. I have Aspies and my daughter is Classic autistic. My Aspie is nearly nine and he is very verbal as most aspies are but he does make a lot of noises anyway.
Im wondering if the growling seems to have any rhythm to it....more like a tic or is it more random like he is more verbal stimming or just enjoys the sound? It also may be that he is trying to drown out sound...that he is over sensitive to sound and found a way to drown it out. You could try these ear phones to see if it helps http://www.hearforlife.co.uk/
You can find the earphones under the kids part. This is in the UK but Im sure you can find headphones like this. They are relatively inexpensive and it would be a good experiment to do to see if this is the issue he is having. If nothing else you could always wear them .....Im not making jokes at your expense I just know that sometimes if we dont laugh we go nutso so I hope you understand.

I wonder if it could be an oral sensory thing for him. Maybe it is the sensation that the sound causes in his mouth and throat that he is needing and the sound is just a by-product. My son is high-function but he has gone through many different things involving making different sounds (whistling or growling), spitting or playing with the spit in his mouth (thankfully he seems to be out of this phase at the moment), and chewing. Perhaps you could substitute a different type of oral stimulation such as drinking thick liquids through a straw or chewing on appropriate objects (they make rubber chewie toys for older kids that can be kept on a string around their necks). Just a thought.
Welcome to WP!

I have no experience whatsoever with low functioning individuals. However one of the first major vocalizations my nice began to make when she was a few months old, before she could babble, was growling. My sister figured out she primarily did this when she was teething. So I'd have to wonder, could he be in some discomfort?

He might also like the way it feels in his throat. If he's not trying to communicate and just likes the way it feels, perhaps something that vibrates would appease him better.

I wouldn't punish him, and before I tried to get him to stop I'd try to spawn something useful out of it...one growl for yes, two for no or something like that.

There are definitely a lot of things to consider and it may be tricky since he's not just going to come out and tell you why he's doing it.

Is there something new that triggered the growling? He seems to have found his voice, but is there something he is mimicking, such as a favorite animal?

How does he seem to feel when he is doing it? Does he do anything to indicate that he likes the vibration of his throat, such as touching his neck, smiling, happy-rocking, etc? Is he wincing, curling up into a ball, or having a meltdown surrounding the growling?

Is he gravitating toward or avoiding something by growling? Has the behavior resulted in him getting more or less attention, have the outings changed, or anything else different happened that he may connect with the behavior?

How do you respond to the behavior and how does that affect it? For example, do you quietly ask him to stop 14 times before losing your patience and on that 15th time you say or do something differently (shout, take him out of the room, etc) that causes a pause or stops the behavior? If so, maybe that action on your part triggers the cycle to finish.

Have you tried joining in on the growling? If so, does it help get his attention? You may be able to connect with him through this stim and rein it in. I wouldn't suggest trying to stop him from stimming, unless it was harming him. If it is affecting his quality of life, then it's something that can hopefully be modified.

I'm an expert mimic (so many people tell me lol) and I mimic my boys noises quite often, god only knows why, but sometimes it makes him look at me and smile, and I also do songs off TV shows or music and he really likes this. He does a thing at the moment of making noises low in his throat and holding his breath and creating pressure in his diaphram and things like that, he also when he eats something he REALLY likes such as McDonalds fries he makes full on appreciating his food 'num num num' noises like Homer Simpson would make but fortunately nothing really loud. I guess thats really the only issue here, I wonder if the OP might try earmuffs for the other family members in the meantime, I quite happily wear them when I'm doing building or car repairs and keep them on I can hear quite well through them. I would think the noise will fade with time hopefully. The things my boy does he does for a while and then moves onto something else.

That's exactly what my daughter did (growling) when she was teething! we thought it was cute but hearing this there must have been covariance with her teething.

We have a house full of animals - our daughter made all sorts of interesting sounds before she started talking. She spoke a little late but she started speaking in whole, multi syllabyl words so no one was concerned about the occassional growling, barking and whining that mimicked our miniature pincher perfectly.

Has he had any recent medication changes? Changes in meds can contribute to behavior issues.

Also, up to 80% of kids on the spectrum have a comorbid psychiatric disorder. (See my autistic kids youtube channel for some interesting discussions on this by a couple of different doctors). Seeking treatment for the comorbid psychiatric disorder can often give parents relief and help the child's overall functioning. (You can focus on cognitive issues, etc., instead of getting him to stop growling). My son sees a child psychiatrist, and after trying different meds for a year, we finally have his meds right and he's doing very well from a behavior standpoint. (Low dose Prozac for anxiety and selective mutism and Clonidine at night for his particular issues.)

(Selective mutism, destructive behavior, chronic insomnia, and panic attacks were plaguing him [and us] before the meds.)