Josiah is a screamer. Not always, thankfully. But there are times when it seems all he ever does is scream. We haven’t noticed any patterns. We can’t isolate the screaming to one specific reason. He just screams. Loud, ear splitting, rather annoying screams.

We have noticed it’s definitely an avoidance tactic for sure. When given a demand he is not happy with, he screams. It’s his way of protesting. He’s telling us NO as best he can. Typical of most children with or without a disability. Not the screaming part, the protesting part.

The past few mornings Josiah screamed when his school bus pulled up. He used to love the bus. Riding it was one of his favorite parts of the day. Now he screams all the way down the side walk. He resists going on. I take both hands and walk him, keeping my body behind his so he can’t turn around and bolt back into the house. He screams the whole time. Sometimes I pick him up under his arms and plop him down on the first step. He’s still screaming. From that point on he takes off. I let go and he races to his seat. Screaming stops. There must be something about getting up those steps that upsets him.

I watched a fascinating video the other day about a teenage girl with Autism. She was completely non verbal until the age of 11. She still doesn’t speak, but she communicates very clearly by typing. She writes fascinating letters about what life is like inside the body of an Autistic person. Amazing! She has her own blog. She has a parent forum. She offers insight. Her desire is to be able to help others who are non verbal with Autism find their voice. Her name is Carly.

Carly explained the screaming helps to drown out all the noise coming in. Autistic people are more tuned in to the sounds around them. They pick up much more than we do. Sometimes its too much. Ever notice a child with Autism covering his ears and cowering? Too much input. Screaming helps to push some of it away I guess. Doesn’t make sense to me but apparently it works.

That may explain why Josiah screamed in Fuddruckers. Maybe there was too much noise. Doesn’t really explain why he screamed most of the way home though. Maybe screaming is useful for more than just avoidance and noise control.

I hope we figure it out soon. I hope we understand the reasons behind Josiah’s incessant screaming. I hope we can help him cope in ways that do not involve loud guttural vocalizations.

If not, I hope we can find a good sale on some great earplugs!