Hi, I can totally relate to your experience. My boy is now 13 and still stims (paces outside, does echolalia, etc.) When he was first diagnosed his neurologist said he, along with the autism diagnosis, has chronic motor/vocal tic disorder. This seems to me like the same as verbal stimming. When he was younger we did not go out to restaurants as much as we do now, basically because I would be too stressed if he disturbed other patrons. It would not be an enjoyable experience for me, my husband, and the rest of the kids if Ryan was too loud and stressing us all out. I think it's good that you're taking him outside if it gets too loud. He's still only 5, so short spurts probably work best because his attention span will get better as he grows. Some may disagree with me, but I believe they have to stim and get it out of their system. It's like an anxiety release for them. One of the rules that I have made with my son is that he cannot go out front when he stims. Only out in the backyard where it's private. There is such as thing as social stigma, whether they are autistic or not. It was our (my husband and mine) belief that if we allowed him to be pacing around out front and talking out loud and did not put a stop to it, he might be doing it at 16, 17, or older. I hope this helps.

Hi, it could very much be verbal stimming, my son is basically nonverbal but he verbally stims during times he is bored, stressed, and even happy. Initially when he was verbally stimming it was so much and almost all the time..if it was at an inappropriate time I try to redirect or calm him down to the best of my ability.. Not always easy.
We have also used materials that compete with the behavior, for example.. Crunchy snacks which can give him some input that he may be desiring, also his favorite.. Lollipops!! These have helped tremendously.. One or two a day really seem to limit the amount if vocal stimming he does.
I will say, bc my son is nonverbal I do not try to stop all the verbal stimming bc I want him to know he has a voice and its okay to use it.
I hope this all helps... One more thing...if my son is in the midst of a verbal stim I sometimes will get right in his face and engage him by modeling appropriate words or singing a song to him.. Like you, I try to keep him engaged in our world as much as possible.

We have seen some nice results taking 200 mg of magnesium. It has a calming effect on the nervous system which can help control the need/frequency to stim.

verbal stimming is not unusual. I think of it as common,...I am also not a fan of just 'dismissing' a behavior as a stim and 'accepting'it. My (foster)son came to me with a near constant verbal "stim", he squealed, made noises of car engines almost constantly..but you know what in our society it is not appropriate. So I worked on it like any other behavior, and the function for him (like for most) is communication... and sometimes that looks like "self calming" because well he couldn't ask "hey what's going on? where are we going? what's next? what am I supposed to be doing?" so he CHOSE to filter out the world by making noises. Sometimes the noises got him out of situations or get things because people thought it would "calm" him or "keep him quiet"...worked with PECS to request things, comment on things. still working on asking questions, he is verbal now and it is still a struggle (I posted my annoyance earlier on his grumbling, which I will admit is beter than the squealing) but it is NOT constant, and it is surprising to most people who haven't seen him in a year how quiet he is and how much he is able to say! GOOD LUCK work on it, offer modeling words/comments, prompt for "quiet" and reinforce (token systems work well), work on replacements (maybe singing the Thomas theme song?)

Are you sure it is stimming and not a vocal tic? It is a fine line between the two. A neurologist might be helpful.
Having tics doesn't mean having Tourette's, but many of our ASD kids also have tics.