Anyone know how to stop 3 yr old with ASD from saying bad words.

[Owachi]

My ds is 3 and mildly autistic. In the last month he has been continuously saying bad words. Nothing too horrible.....but mainly stupid, pee, poop, poopdeck, and Oh my god, or stop it god. We're not sure how to deal with it. I think he likes the reaction or attention every time we tell him know. He doesn't understand when we say "if you say it again you will go to timeout", or that we won't do something fun (like McDonalds today). I think he got stupid from TV but Thomas the train is his favorite. I can't even turn the radio on without hearing that word. Today I tried to ignore him, and he would walk in front of me and say things over and over.....he did stop a little bit but the problem is he has a twin sister who tells me everytime he says something.....so its hard to ignore him when she keeps saying that Landon said this and Landon said that. We're trying to explain that he can say God when he is praying or talking to him, but not in a bad way. At Sunday school when they pray he tells the teacher, don't say that word. Anyone deal with this and what actually works with a child who doesn't understand or handle discipline the same as other kids.

[Lilypie32]

I wish could offer you some advice; however, my son is doing the same thing lately. He heard the word poopdeck on Spongebob. Mr. Krabs was trying to fit down the well and couldn't fit. I hate cartoons these days.

I just try to ignore most of the things my son says. He has echolalia and once he hears something it's all over with. He just keeps saying it over and over. His newest word is poopateen and I have NO idea where he picked that up. Drives me crazy.

[Kailey's mom]

That's a hard one, since he's a twin... for us, ignoring it helps, but if I laugh, or even mention the word again, she'll say it over and over. Today the phrase of the day is "your a boob" I laughed, so everyone she saw today, she said to them "your a boob, your a booby" expecting the same laughing reaction. I still find it hysterical, but... yeah, it will pass. We also try to switch to another funny word like tic-tac. An example would be

dd: You're pee pee water
me: haha, well you are silly string
dd: no, your silly string
me: haha, well you are blue paper

etc..

[RheaSilva]

I wish I had some advice for you but I can at least alleviate your burden a teeny bit. "Poopdeck", although a funny-sounding word, is the part of the superstructure of a ship. It has nothing to do with poop as we know it.

So at least that's one less word to worry about!

[StephandOwen]

Could you try cutting out a largish stop sign from red construction paper. Explain to him that what the stop sign means. Then don't say a word or react at all when he says "naughty" words. Just hold up the stop sign. Nothing more. I've heard this getting good results from young children with autism, and have had some success with my own ds. Talking to him about stuff like that does nothing. Reasoning/threatening/etc are all way out of his scope. But a clear stop sign works wonders But you cannot give him any sort of reaction (especially positive by smiling, laughing, etc) when he says a naughty word. This will confuse him and will not get you the results you want.

Good luck! And just remember "this too shall pass". Of course, it'll be followed by another behavior that you aren't too fond of, but that is our lives, isn't it?

[Owachi]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I will try out the stop sign thing and see if that helps.

[Village Mama]

Originally Posted by Kailey's mom

That's a hard one, since he's a twin... for us, ignoring it helps, but if I laugh, or even mention the word again, she'll say it over and over. Today the phrase of the day is "your a boob" I laughed, so everyone she saw today, she said to them "your a boob, your a booby" expecting the same laughing reaction. I still find it hysterical, but... yeah, it will pass. We also try to switch to another funny word like tic-tac. An example would be

dd: You're pee pee water
me: haha, well you are silly string
dd: no, your silly string
me: haha, well you are blue paper

etc..

Ok! I am following you around, agreeing with you today it seems! My youngest went through a HUGE potty talk phase. Embarrassingly huge and long phase... This is what worked for us as well. Funny sounding ridiculous substitutes worked well.

[wytchywoman]

If he's doing it for the reaction then you need to take away his motive....stop reacting. I'd try ignoring it. As horrid as it may seem at the time, if you can go just a few days without reacting at all ( seriously, pretend he said absolutely nothing) then it will probably peak and then diminish. I had a hard time with my DS 2 swearing ( and I mean the really swearing, f word and all). His consultants recommendation was to ignore it. It worked. We couldn't really go out in public for about a week because there was pretty much an increasing stream of filth coming from his mouth for that time, but once he finally realized that there was no longer a payoff for him in it all he moved on and dropped the swear words.

[kathrineg]

Yes, substitutes are great. Just make sure the substitute is something you want to hear over and over!

The little one I watch has been constantly saying "And now it's time for...worms in space!" Not a bad word but annoying after nearly a week! So I started substituting, "now it's time for noses in space!" He thought it was hilarious and so he does it now "elevators in space! with elevator astronauts!" or whatever. Quirky, but not annoying.