Repeated Questioning! Many children on and off the spectrum engage in repeated questioning. Many parents find this very exhausting and hard to decrease. Children can engage in repeated questioning for variety of reasons. 1. Some children, who are insecure, will do it for reassurance about the issue they are questioning about. Uncertainty of the immediate future is very anxiety provoking. These children need to constantly know what is coming up to feel secure. Questioning becomes a way of making the world more clear, consistent, and predictable. 2. Some children experience strong anticipatory anxiety (strong excitement about what is coming up) and will continually question as a way of coping with anticipation. If the behavior is driven by severe anxiety they will get very upset when you try to redirect or not answer. 3. Some children simply get stuck on a particular topic or interest and cannot get past it. They may be seeking out more information but not knowing how to do it. In these cases it is best to try and expand the conversation by providing more information. 4. Some children who want attention will repeatedly ask the same question as a way of interacting, getting attention. This occurs especially if they either do not know how to get attention in other more appropriate ways, or if the intensity of reaction they get from questioning is much stronger then what they get for appropriately initiating interaction. Some children prefer initiating attention with questions that have predictable answers. As annoying as the repeated questioning can be it is important to look at what function the behavior seems to serve for the child before extinguishing it. If the behavior tends to reduce anxiety, or make sense of the world, then we need to gently redirect it by trying to calm the anxiety or providing the information they need. Also, be careful not to invalidate the child’s attempt to communicate, since we are trying to encourage communication as much as possible. My first recommendation is for parents to try and work with the child and expand his questioning into reciprocal interaction. Provide an answer to his question, and then expand on it with further information, asking him questions about what he is seeking, and building expanded interaction around the initial question. For example, the child questions, “Going to the park?”, and the parent responses with “Yes Johnny we are going to the park after lunch. Going to the park is fun. I like to swing. Do you like to swing?” Adding to and expanding on to the topic of the question. Take whatever answer the child gives you, and expand on it. This answers the child’s original question, redirects him onto other aspects of the topic, and teaches him how to expand on the conversation. If the child has limited language, you can simply expand on his question “Going to the park?” with “Yes, swing!” (since you know he loves to swing at the park). Adding on to the question provides further information and redirects the child’s attention past the initial question. There are a few other behavioral techniques that have worked successfully for me with several children I have worked with in the past; however, they do not build on the child’s communication. 1. Answer the child once when he repeats a question, and then tell him that this is the last time you will answer. From then on in, the parent gives no verbal response. They may shake their head no, but not give a verbal answer. In all cases, the parent’s verbal answer is what reinforces the child to ask again. This is discussed with the child ahead of time, so he knows the parent will not verbally answer anymore. 2. For some children answering only once is not enough, so you might try answering no more than three times. Then with each answer you count them off. When you hit three that is it. 3. Some children will inhibit the questioning if you repeat the question to them. So the second time they ask the question, “Are we going to McDonalds for dinner?” you say “Bobby, are we going to McDonalds for dinner?” They will usually give you the answer, and stop repeating the question. 4. For an older teen that can read and write, we would answer the repeated question one time, and then have him write down the answer and carry it with him. If he asked again, the parent would refer him to his note. Another technique that has worked is writing the answer down on a note board and referring the child to that board. This worked well since the verbal response is what reinforces the repeated questioning. 5. This next technique is for children who find it real difficult to stop, so we gradually decrease the behavior as the child becomes more controlled in refraining from questioning. It is more complex but has worked well. a. The parent keeps track, for a couple of days, of how frequently the child repeatedly questions during the day (let’s say an average of six times a day) and how many repetitions of a question the child averages (let’s say five repetitions of a question). Then from there we write a plan to start gradually decreasing those frequencies (the number of repetitions of each question, and the number of times a day repeated questioning occurs.) b. To decrease the number of times the child gives a question, if the average frequency is five, we would start by answering the child up to four times. We would tell the child that we can only give up to four responses. Each time the child repeated the question, the parent responds “this is number one” and answers the question. Then each response starts with “this in number 2, 3 or 4” and answers the question. At the fourth time the parent reminds the child they cannot answer it again. If the child stops asking, the parent will praise the child, “Sally, you really please mommy by not questioning after I told you no”. If the child asked again, the parent shakes her head no, and gives the child the manual sign for “no”. The parent does not give another “verbal answer” to the question, regardless of how intense the child gets. When the child gets used to asking only up to four times, then we decrease to three times. We gradually decrease to twice and only once. This way we start where the child is at, and gradually expect her to control her asking. c. Now, we want to reward the child for stopping at the predetermined number of repetitions (as above), as well as decrease the number of times repeated questionings occurs throughout the day. In this example, the child averages repeated questioning six times a day. We start at that number and gradually reduce the frequency as in the step above. We make a laminated reinforcement chart with six boxes on it. We also post a picture of a few rewards that the child can earn next to the board. For each time the child engages in repeated questioning, when he doesn’t stop at four, the parent puts a cross or frown face in one of the boxes (with an erasable marker). The parent tells the child that if there is at least one box left by a certain time of the evening, the child will get their choice of one of the rewards. So, in this case, if the child has four or less times when he doesn’t stop repeated questioning, he will earn a reward. This way, we start with were the child is at, teach him how to earn the reward, and then slowly started reducing the number of boxes (chances) he has to earn the reward. So for step b above, when the child asks for the fifth time, the mother shakes her head no, gives manual sign for “no”, and walks over and crosses out one of the squares. If the child has at least one box left at the end of the evening he gets his choice of reward. If he has all five boxes crossed off, parent shows him the filled in squares, tells him he cannot get the reward tonight, but he can try again tomorrow. Another way you can work a reinforcement board is to give the child a star in each box each time he stops the questioning at the predetermined amount without going over. So, if the child stops at four repetitions, the parent praises him and gives him a star to put on his chart. Once he earns the right number of stars he earns a reward. 6. Another technique is to answer the child once or twice. Then the next time the child asks you tell him you will not answer that question again, and ask him a simple question to redirect him. This way you are redirecting him to talk about something else. If he doesn’t answer, but asks his question instead, you continue to ignore his question and continue to ask him your question until he answers. If he answers your question and goes back to his, you simply ask another question about the issue you want to talk about and keep focusing on what you are asking him. Eventually they learn to take the redirection and converse on what you want to talk about. Remember almost all of these techniques focuses on 1) stop rewarding his repeated questioning with “verbal answers” and 2) focusing (rewarding) him for responding the way you want him to do. This series on challenging behavior can be found in the green book, “Autism Discussion Page on Anxiety, Behavior, School and Parenting Strategies
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 08:47:34 +0000
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