The J-Man has a tendency to want to watch the same episode of the same TV show over and over again. I imagine this is not an earth-shattering concept to many of you, and it’s not for us either. But I got to pondering why, looking for something beyond the more obvious.
It’s also not earth-shattering news that autistic kids often engage in many kinds of repetitive behaviors and prefer to repeat familiar activities. I’m sure this plays an important role in why he likes chain-watching the same episode over and over. I believe there’s a lot more to it than just that, though.
To an outsider, this sort of behavior may seem ‘non-functional’. (Hey, I think we’ve talked about supposedly ‘non-functional’ behaviors not long ago!) There certainly are many situations in which watching the same TV show over and over again may very well be little more than an occasion to zone out. However, I’m going to argue that there are conditions in which it’s not only functional but possibly a critical component to a child’s learning, autistic or not.
For what it’s worth, here’s my current thought on this issue. I believe there’s a much more specific point to his supposedly ‘non-functional’ repetitive behavior in watching and rewatching the same show. I think he’s practicing the content of the show in his head until he feels comfortable demonstrating outwardly what he’s learned. He often begins this process by watching a show in a manner that to an observer would seem passive. At some point he moves into this outward expression of concepts slowly, intermittently, and often subtly at first, but usually he’s pretty quick to get to where he consistently does it well. Like I said, it seems like he rehearses inwardly until he’s almost sure he’s ‘got it’.
For the J-Man, he particularly likes watching the same episode of Signing Time – an amazing, special needs-friendly series that teaches children American Sign Language and reading and language skills – and most recently Yo Gabba Gabba over and over. He’d probably watch an episode a half-dozen times in a row – at least – if we let him. However, it’s worth noting that the specific episode he wants to watch eventually changes, and the cycle begins again.
Here’s why I think what he’s doing has an important function to it.
* He is usually engaging with the program, first by watching intently, then interacting with it in some constructive manner (sometimes a lot, sometimes not as much, but he keeps a relatively high level of focus regardless), and involving us in some way, typically by using words, verbal approximations, or a few signs and expecting us to repeat them back to him.
* He displays greater comprehension of what’s in the episode over time. This is a very gradual process, but his assimilation of the material does increase the more he watches it. This strikes me as the very definition of practice.
* Whatever pieces of the episode that may cause him sensory (almost always auditory) distress seem to cause fewer issues over multiple watchings. It’s like he’s actively trying to work through this distress.
* This is similar to what he’s done often in the past. As a baby and young toddler, he just suddenly did things he seemingly couldn’t do before. There were any number of things we never saw him do at first. We’d just turn around and he’d done it. For example, it took us forever to catch him rolling over and sitting up. We’d turn around, and there he was rolled over or sitting up. He didn’t walk unsupported until he was 22 months old, but once he started, he was running around the house within two days. It’s like he has to organize everything in his head first before he does it in ‘real life’.
* Just as suddenly as he started wanting to watch an episode repeatedly, he often stops being interested in it. Typically this only happens after he’s started demonstrating multiple concepts he’s learned from it. Perhaps it’s because he’s gotten all he can from it for now. At this point, he moves on to another. This interest period typically lasts roughly 1-3 weeks.
Given that communication is one of his greatest challenges – and understandably one of the most frustrating for him – we look for more relaxed ways to help him practice communication. I think after a while he gets tired of being asked to interact with real-life people – most of us do! – so something two-dimensional like a TV screen or electronic gadget of some kind may prove a welcome respite for him. It’s hard to tell sometimes, but it seems that way just from what we can glean from his non-verbals and general mood.
I’ve been pondering these theories about this for a while now, but I’ve been skeptical of it for a long time because of my hesitancy to believe that TV is ever that great for kids (other than to give parents a break for a bit!). I still think for the most part that TV – of either the kid or adult flavor – is crap, but that’s another story. There are a few programs I think make a difference, though.
I’ve become much more convinced that the J-Man is learning a lot this way because of how amazingly far Dale Jr. has progressed in his development watching Signing Time and Pinky Dinky Doo with us. We do try to make it a family activity, though I confess sometimes we turn it on just so we can get a few minutes to eat or go to the bathroom.
Anyway, Dale Jr. just turned two recently. Right now he can: verbally identify almost all upper and lowercase letters (in a variety of fonts too), recognize and verbally label 8-10 colors with little or no prompting, identify God knows how many animals and objects (macaw!?), draw from a working vocabulary of probably a couple hundred words, talk in phrases and basic sentences and engage in some basic conversation, do all this in a variety of contexts (generalization!), read some words (he loves the J-Man’s written schedule board), and use more sign language than I can. Now given our family history, I wouldn’t know ‘typical’ development if it jumped up and bit me, so I’ve asked around, and everyone has told us that this is highly unusual at 24 months. Feel free to correct us if we’re wrong.
Rather than some non-functional, mind-numbing experience, I think this practice is really helping both our kids. The J-Man’s speech skills have increased tremendously of late. I’m not at all advocating dumping your kids in front of the TV all day every day. I’m inclined to think there are very few TV programs with which extended viewing would be appropriate regardless. However, I am starting to believe that using this approach with certain programs as part of a broader plan of, for example, developing verbal and reading skills can absolutely work.
We’re specifically convinced that Signing Time has been instrumental in helping our kids with word recognition, communication skills, and reading. The way they both interact with the show is quite amazing, and they, each in their own way, use those skills in other contexts during the day. We reinforce those skills all through the day in as many ways as we can.
I don’t want to turn this into a lovefest for Signing Time even though I think it’s deserved. Both kids also love Pinky Dinky Doo, which I think may be the most autism-friendly program on TV with all its structure. They’ve picked up tons from it, too. Very recently, they’ve both been really into Yo Gabba Gabba. I can see why Dale Jr. loves it because it’s so movement-oriented, music-based, and silly. I was astonished, though, that the J-Man enjoys watching it and even requests it verbally! If you’ve seen it, it’s not necessarily the most sensory-chill show in the world. It’s honestly kinda trippy. We’re still trying to discern what the J-Man is getting out of it, but when he requests something verbally and consistently, there’s something he’s working on. I’m convinced of this.
So what does this all mean? I do think structured kids’ shows that offer some level of engagement and that stimulate areas your child is working on (e.g., speech and communication, movement/imitation) can be worthwhile. I believe they can offer a lower-key way for autistic children to learn without all the extra energy it takes to interact with people socially. Therein also lies the caution. I see these TV shows as a complement only. The J-Man gets sometimes 9 hours or more of learning, therapy, and social time a day on weekdays. That’s a lot of people time, and socializing can be so draining.
If you set up TV watching times as opportunities for learning and skills reinforcement, I certainly believe it can work well for your child. As with everything else, think about it in context with the rest of the activities you and your team of educators, therapists, family, and friends are doing and how it fits in with your overall learning and developmental goals for your child. TV is simply a tool and a resource, and tools used wisely and for the right purpose can make a big difference.
If you’re interested in Signing Time and want to help support our site, you can get Signing Time DVDs through this affiliate link. We love Signing Time and understand that some people don’t care for affiliate links, so you can also just go to signingtime.com.
Posts that hopefully are similar:
- What’s Your Autistic Toddler Like Now? (Part 2)
- The Light at the End of the Tunnel May Not Be an Oncoming Train
- All the Good Things
- The Sign for Brother
- A Tale of Two Speeches
- What’s Your Autistic Toddler Like Now? (Part 1)
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I think you’re on to something here! My daughter is almost the exact same way when it comes to her shows. She starts off slow, but then once she’s “got them down,” she does everything they do in the shows – almost exactly. Then I’ll notice she’ll take certain phrases and apply them to other things going on. Like, “That is delicious!” referencing her cereal, but I never taught her that word. And BTW, I really love signing time too =)
I absolutely agree. We, too, have seen progress with our 2-year old non-verbal autistic son watching Baby Signing Time. He is starting to approximate words and he has learned a couple of signs since we ordered these movies. Like J-Man, my son wants to watch the same episode over and over again. We’ve been stuck on Baby Signing Time’s “Here I Go” episode for a couple of weeks…I think it’s because of the song about cars and trains.
We do try to limit how much he watches it, but we’ll let him watch it a couple of times daily. After a day full of therapy and Floortime, he needs a little break and I’d rather him take a break with something that helps promote his communication skills.
Same here—I agree completely with your assessment of how the repeated watching of the same (educational) shows really teaches our kids (autistic and otherwise) skills. Hallie used to demand the same shows constantly, for weeks on end, and then would acquire phrases from them (she had very appropriate, targeted echolalia about a year and a half ago) and then began to work through the emotions/social skills that were developed in them (here, Kai Lan was extremely important to her, and still is) and along the way picked up ASL, sight reading, and reading fluency. Lea does a very similar thing (but unlike Dale Jr does not know her letters at age 2; she’s 2.5 now. We try not to worry about this and try to remember that Hallie being a precocious reader is atypical). Anyway, I think if more parents of typical kids were tuned into what their kids were doing they’d notice that their kids learned this way too. A lot of us parents of spectrumy children just observe what’s going on a whole lot more closely. That’s one of the blessings of autism, I guess.
Hi ,
I am a mom to a former micro preemie and I have contacted you before and your suggestions have always helped me ,she is 4 now and still drinks water from a bottle .Do you have any suggestions or tricks you have used with the J-Man that you can share here .
Thank you
Signing Time has done amazing things for our family. We’re in a similar experience. Anabelle has well over 100 signs, though she’s using them less and less because she’s so talkative now. I think watching those shows, in addition to her tagging along with us to Wesley’s speech therapy since she was 6 weeks old, and the very simple way we use language in our house, has really helped her verbal skills.
I’m glad you found something that works for him. Mine was taught sign language as he was doing his speech and anything that helps I feel is okay. I used the TV a lot to show what was appropriate and inappropriate. I wish I had something like that when mine was younger. I wouldn’t have had such a hard time.
Nice post. Thanks.
@onlyash – I promoted your comment to an actual post here. Hope that’s OK. I wanted to get feedback from others since I’m not sure what to suggest, though I did describe what we tried in that post. Thanks for your great question!
I so agree with what you have written. My son has Apraxia & his earliest word combinations came from watching Max & Ruby episodes over and over (just as you described). We weren’t thrilled to have him shouting “bad egg!” when someone asked how he was but we were happy to have him talking and eventually he moved on to more sophisticated phrases from shows like Thomas until now he talks without quoting from TV. As you said, he needed to gain confidence in his verbal skills by listening to certain words many times, trying them out as he watched, then incorporating them in actual conversation with us.