My 3 year old daughter is the biggest sweetheart, but she perseverates much of the day. If she's not being directly engaged (having a conversation, discussing a book or what she is playing, etc.) and is left to amuse herself (ie during playtime, eating, getting dressed, etc.), she fixates on one of a handful of topics. All day long, she will happily ask the same couple questions over and over ("What's your favorite movie?"), rehash the same favorite stories/songs/tv episode scenes, or repeat aā¦ read more
VERY common for kids on the spectrum who are starting to delve into adaptive speech they are using repetitive language or scripted language that they've picked up along the way. I definitely agree with @A MyAutismTeam Member don't discourage it at all that tends to cause anxiety as they get older because they never want to say the wrong thing so then they don't say anything at all...it's usually something they work on in speech and social groups at home I use to work with my daughter on it by turning the question on her...
What's your favorite color?
Green...What's your favorite color? Then once we go through the regular questions I'll start adding to them until they get silly and she would laugh like...what's your favorite monkey? A monkey that throws his poo and she would die laughing lol....
I just find it easier when you try to turn these things into a game...they make progress and have fun, they dissecting and boring junk I save for school š
Iād say the bright side of this is that your daughter is verbal at 3 years old and can actually ask questions whether it is relevant to the situation or not. A good speech therapist can help her fine tune things when sheās ready. As mentioned above, it can be calming to some kids. When my daughter (who could utter a few single words at that age) started doing that, I chalked it down to her just wanting to use words and sentences because she felt good about using words whether relevant or not. Also her words and vocabulary were very limited and so this was her way of keeping the conversation going. Being āverbalā was the sole purpose for us at that time. These days (sheās 7) the ST works with her on conversation skills,staying on topic, cues on when to change topic, cues on how not to interrupt.. etc. Its a slow process and sheās very very far from achieving these goals ( itāll take many years) but Iām satisfied for now that she is aware of the fact that there are these components of back and forth conversation and sheās a happy participant because she wants to learn. Iāve seen her count to 4 ( she came up with that number) when thereās a break in conversation before speaking to prevent herself from interrupting. I had to tell her to count in her head not aloud :) hopefully with time itāll be a learned exercise she will do without having to count .
As far as limiting her, I wouldnāt. If at all, Iād probably guide her on changing topic or asking other things. Teaching them to use āwhy, when, how, whereā could potentially help but sheās so young I donāt know whether itād help, but no harm in trying.
If she is asking the same question again and again, she is probably not comprehending the answer but repeating what she learnt in speech. Other reason could be that she wants to talk but doesnāt know what to say. Repetitive speech is also calming to some ASD kids so could be just a calming mechanism. Either way, donāt discourage it- she is 3. As far as the outside world, some will be kind others not. Both experiences will help, but try to have her around kind kids more.
I agree with Wse & Sumrae. She is only 3 & you want her to develop without the stress of trying to learn right from wrong. You never want to discourage speech, no matter how she goes about communicating.
Its not a matter of how much, its a matter of why.