I'm a newbie here and really feel all of the pain and frustration here that is in my own heart right now. When I saw this post I felt good cause we actually solved this one for our son. My son is a creative, smart sweetheart who is 7 and an Aspie.
Oh yeah. Had this problem for a long time. It was like he was oral stimming to spit out the bad feelings. Certainly didn't make him popular on the school bus or in class! I think we finally made progress when I wrote a social story called "spitting is for brushing our teeth" I even sent a photocopy of the one I wrote to his 1st grade teacher so she could review it when needed too.
The story started with feeling frustrated or angry or anxious, moved into "I feel like spitting the bad feelings out" then talked about how people won't like it when you spit at them. But if you use your words to share your frustration then you will feel proud of acting so grown up!
It is relatively rare now. Best of luck with this.
We had that problem, I'm sure here it was sensory. Andrew would hide in his bedroom to do it so he wouldn't get in trouble for spitting, which made me realize it probably wasn't behavioral and he really couldn't help it. So I too redirected it to the sink and gave him washclothes to chew on and spit in. THat solved the problem. He stopped hiding to spit and now he is pretty much over it, I haven't seen him do it in a long time.I found this today and thought it was worth passing along:
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One of the residents at our health center just started spitting all the time. We tried giving him suckers but that didn't work. It's driving everyone a bit crazy and it's so unsanitary! Any ideas?
The first thing that I'd recommend doing is a Functional Behavioral Assessment . You need to know specifics about when, where, how, etc. about his spitting. Does he do it in all settings? Does he do it at certain times of the day? Does he do it during certain activities? Does he do it when specific people are around? Does he seem to be doing it to get attention? Some of things I'd suggest you think about are: Does he spit in certain locations? Does he like to do it into wind or sunlight? (This causes neat rainbows!) Does he like to watch it fall? (Seeing if it always takes the same amount of time?) Does he have a fasination with other oral or visual stimuli? Does the spitting seem to be self-satisfying? Once you have some possible theories as to why he is spitting, you can come up with ways to change that behavior. If he is spitting to "see rainbows in the sunlight" you might try giving him other things with which he can get similar results such as dishsoap, bubbles or a prism. If he is spitting only during certain activities, he is probably trying to tell you he is bored or he doesn't like the activity (or perhaps he loves it). If that's the case, you need to consider an activity change. If you think he is doing it for the oral or visual pleasure he receives, you might try teaching him a time and/or a place where spitting will be acceptable 100% of the time. You might try providing other things that provide oral/visual stimulation. Keep in mind that frequently if you try to fully eliminate a behavior, you will find yourself with another one that is more annoying. Teaching small, acceptable "variations on a theme" or teaching "times and places that are okay" are usually more viable options.
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Source: http://www.asw4autism.org/aswnews/news800.htm
Yes, my son did this all the time up until a few months ago. He would spit liquids like milk, all over the house and just watch it fall from his mouth. When I spoke to a consultant (ABA), for advice, she told me it was a stim, because he was doing it all the time, and not seeking attention for it.My son has done this in periods as his way of warding off something bad, almost like a voodoo ritual. I couldn't wait for it to stop! We helped him sort through his feelings and it went away in a week +/- both times.
It is probably more often sensory, though. Here's a checklist on sensory issues which might shed light on the situation:
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html
Good luck with everything.
jeeze, i wonder what the cause of this is, i mean ive never heard of this as being a problem, ill admit shaimfully i did this 2 when i was younger, but stopped when i realized it was inappropriate in public, tho it took a while to understand this for myself, usually my parents were not around when i was doing it to reprimand me, their was, as i can remember, no cause, unlike the kids described above, just random. Id love to see a reason why this occures, perhapse nobody knows, if the info is out their, then their may also be a way to stop it.