Does your child need oral stimulation?Hi all. Well my 3 year old son zach is always putting things in his mouth...toys, his shirt, pretty much anything he can get his hands on. I have a chewy tube for him which he likes, but when thats not around he will just chew on whatever is available. Anyway, Im guessing this is probably a pretty common thing with autistic kids.. But my question is, is there a way to get them out of this habit, or will they eventually grow out of it? Any advice on this would definitely be appreciated. Thanks everyone!! Jen I'm not sure about growing out of it. My son is nearly 6, and still uses a pacifier /.When that's not in his mouth, he will put other things in his mouth as well. I'm still waiting for him to outgrow it. Nakama My ds is like that. He is seven now and it has decreased though he still tends to mouth things. At age three he had his pacifier in a lot. It prevented him from putting other stuff in but it was bad for his teeth and probably did not help with language either. We took the pacifier away when he was five and two years later he still gets misty-eyed when he thinks about it. So yes, it has gotten better but it still gets worse when he is stressed out. At the beginning of the school year he chewed through several T-Shirt sleeves and pencils. We tried chewing gum but he tends to keep taking it out and playing with it too much. I hope someone else has any brilliant ideas. [QUOTE=jen78fl] Hi all. Well my 3 year old son zach is always putting things in his mouth...toys, his shirt, pretty much anything he can get his hands on. I have a chewy tube for him which he likes, but when thats not around he will just chew on whatever is available. Anyway, Im guessing this is probably a pretty common thing with autistic kids.. But my question is, is there a way to get them out of this habit, or will they eventually grow out of it? Any advice on this would definitely be appreciated. Thanks everyone!! Jen [/QUOTE]My almost 4 year old still mouths everything too... My twins who are 6 both still need oral stimulation. I really don't know if they outgrow it too. You always learn with children with autism. Mine even chew on their knees on their jeans but they don't if they have shorts on. It may be the the material.Well, I guess this is a very common problem.. If anyone has any suggestions on what to do about this, Im sure were all anxious to hear! lol Thanks everyone.. My daughter is oral-defensive. Never puts non-food in mouth. Not so big on food, either ... My son, 4, who I do not think is on the spectrum (I am learning to qualify EVERYTHING!) is the oral sensation-seeker. He puts EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in his mouth. Or will lick any surface. He is, in general a big sensory-seeker, but no other ASD symptoms. In fact I began researching SIDs for him ... and that is when I became suspicious about my daughter ....
Ali craves oral stimulation too. She mouths anything she can find. I try to carry lollipops and do not correct her so much when she is chewing/sucking on her hands....just cause if it is not her hands, it is something less appropriate like door knobs, shirt collars, etc.
We went through several stages of oral stimulation, from chewing on pencils and erasers, fingernails and the neckline of his shirts until the tops of the shirts were soggy wet and full of teeth marks. I gave Eric sugarless bubble gum for a while which he enjoyed and when he got tired of chewing gum, his need for oral stim had almost disappeared (of course, he was about 10 years old by then). Now at age 11, once in a while when he gets excited, he will bite the top of his shirt very quickly and let go, but this happens very infrequently. I also remember giving him Pop Rocks from about ages 4 through 7. It helped satisfy his craving for oral stimulation.Thanks Sed for all the suggestions! Jen, My son never had things in his mouth. Since he started school in a public school, however he seems to be placing everything into his mouth. I did bring this up at his IEP meeting. Some good suggestions i had gotten from his instructors as well as his OT and PT were to find a squish ball he could place in his pocket and teach him to squeeze it every time he wants to stick something in his mouth. This is on a trial basis right now, but seems to be in progression. He has only had to be redirected 2 times in the past 2 weeks about placing things into his mouth. I really think its a prefrence. With my son it was more of a pressure stimulation the OT said and the pressure on his gums felt good. This was something that we had to deal with when he was even brushing his teeth at night and in the morning. He would bite so hard on his toothbrush his gums would bleed. This was something that we fixed with a teething ring made of hard rubber. My concern with that was he would break his teeth off because he would bite so hard. After about a week he seemed to get by with the pressure treatments of a lap pillow. Weighted lap pillows can be made with rice or sand... usually weigh only about 2.5lbs or 3lbs. It is just gentle pressure on their legs that helps them to be stimulated in a more appropriate manner that is acceptable and less damaging to your child. These are some suggestions you can try... again each child is different, but dont give up... there are alot of resources out there that can help you to deal with this type of thing. Huge Hugz I wish my daughter would suck or blow on things. Her outlet for oral stimulation is to eat. She always snacked but since putting her on Paxil and starting sensory therapy, I almost can't control the eating. The med has helped so much with her OCD and social anxiety but goodness. I don't know if its worth it. I'm holding out that the therapy will help soon... |
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