how do i deal with my 2 1/2 year old daughters screaming for no reason?

[tina_andino]

i have a 2 1/2 year old little girl (only child) that screams for anything. even when she is happy and dancing and singing a song. she will be singing a song she loves and then every note will scream it. if a commerical comes on, when its over, she screams.  when she is watching one of her shows, through the whole thing, she will scream. she does this all through the day.  when my husband and i tell her to stop screaming, she starts to cry and scream. i dont understand why she does this especially when she is happy. it is not an ordinary scream,  it sounds like a dying elephant. also, when we tell her not to do something (for instance, not to flush the tiolet 15 times in a row) she will continue to do it, over and over and over again. we will put her in her room with nothing to do, and then in 15 minutes tell her we will let her out but she has to do what we tell her, she comes out and does it again!!!! now my husband and i give her plenty of quality time since we both do not have to work. so i dont see it being about attention. whenever she wants something, she expects it no matter what. what should i do about these problems. its putting a big strain on us.

[margypops]

Yes I have found the chair works well as Dr Kennedy states, most kids will get off but you frimly put her back even if it takes a while.,they dont usually sit there ,after a few mins they get fed up and go quiet. I have known Moms who do it with a bean Bag, and take it on vacation so it is around where ever you are.Her speech and Language ought to be looked into toaswell.At 2 possibly it is her way of communicating excitement at the Ads, are they any particular Ads are they Noisy Ads,Singing Ads,By the way kids often flush the Loo a lot its fun to them, ease off a bit.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Relative to the screaming, two things should occur. You should arrange evaluations with both Speech/Language and Occupational Therapy clinicians. Second, from a management perspective, she is too young to be placed in her room for time out. She should sit in a time out chair (adult size). Immediately when she begins to scream, place her in the chair, saying 'No screaming'. She should remain in the chair for five minutes, and the time should commence only when she is quiet (use a digital cooking timer to track the time). Read Lynn Clark's book SOS Help for Parents - it will give you additional guidance re: managing behavior.

[tessyj61]

sorry I didn't complete remember you whole story once I got typing but in short I watch super nanny as well as meor the dog. they use all of the techniques that has worked for me (I also have two childern ten years apart one has ADD and the other has ADHD/bipolar 1, I,ve not had to yell or hit, repeat yes.(not repeat, rephrase the teachers though the years liked using my method and was real easy once everyone was on board)  my boys are now  25 and 15 most of our life has been stressfree.  if youyell at a dog for backing it just thinks you're playing same for a child except negative attention is still attention .

[tessyj61]

when unexceptable behavior happens, I would put them in time out with a stop watch . and they have to be quiet for as many minutes as years of their age. If they make a sound before time is up, time  starts all over again. it worked great for me. (don't use angry looks,sad works as well as it gets more positive results as it is with adults) in the case with the screaming. i would just stop what I was doing, and sit on the floor and do the same thing. they  stop  and look at you .( of course this you won't do in the middle of a resturant.in this case take out to the car or just outside and wait til they calm down.then tell that you can't be inside  either because someone has to sit with them. keep doing these things until they get it.  if any of this helped I'd like to know, so far everyone I teach this to, had great success good luck