That's a pretty good idea, but... Wyatt does put his fingers over his mouth in imitation of me but he still yells. I had hoped he would take the hint and NOT yell--his fingers don't do much to muffle the sound. Although, I worry about others encouraging W to put something over his mouth/nose--like the hankie suggestion-- (wouldn't want him to accidentally suffocate). An actual gag (as in tying a bandana tightly over the mouth) is considered abuse.

I've been told that verbal stims are virtually impossible to correct because there is something about it that is so reinforcing to the verbal stimmer. I didn't mind verbal stims so much because they were generally happy noises. It's only lately that Wyatt has started to hurt our ears. I suppose this is a sort of parent abuse. Legally, we can't gag our child, but we CAN medicate him. I suppose another thing we could do is attempt to soundproof our spare bedroom. The problem would be that Wyatt would not like being contained. Do you think the noise canceling headphone idea would help in this case?

We probably could get a house, but at this point and in this economy, it's safer and less of a financial leap to keep what we've got. Still, the new flooring is a step in the direction of eventually selling. We have a pretty good relationship with the neighbors--they are very understanding about Wyatt, really. Also, we really like having access to the heated swimming pools.