Is it possible that his nose is dry and feels funny? perhaps you could try some saline nasal spray. good luck
I can completely empathize with your situation because it reminds me of when my son, who has autism, discoverd his penis (it took every ounce and fiber of my being to keep my face expressionless and not react because 99% of what he does is attention-seeking in nature). I agree with NorwayMom's comment that its either a new self-stimulatory behavior or some item is some how stuck in there: I would go with the former. Have you tried ignoring him completely when he's, for lack of a better phrase, goes digging? Just get up calmly as if you forgot something in another room and leave without giving him any eye contact or looking in his direction. That is what works for my son given his attention-seeking intentions. What I would try to do is surreptitiously identify what purpose does that behavior serve for him and the antecedents before the behavior (environmental and individual triggers). Just monitor and log the frequency of its occurrence, duration and intensity, in addition to what occurs before and after each episode for, say, a week and then go over your data. You might find some interesting patterns emerging. At any rate, the best to you on modifying that behavior and keep us posted.
I was going to mention allergies. My NT daughter suffers allergies and she has a lot of bother with wanting to itch it. My mum also suffers quite badly and often says she feels like she has bugs up her nose.
Mabe this an allergy related thing?
We have this problem as well. He's kind of in his own little world when he does it. If we say stop, he gets mad, then turns around and starts again. He could careless who's watching or calls it gross. It really stinks in public, I don't know how to get him to stop. He made himself bleed last week on the bus home from school.I also want to add that I need for this behavior to be eradicated (I read some wrightslaw/see Jenny McCarthy thread) because I have an intense dislike of seeing people touch their noses with their fingers. My brother used to torture me during time out by just simply scratching the side of his nose. He still does it to me to this day and Istill can't stand it.
UGH, I know how you are feeling...Mason's is gagging himself with toys or his hands...I'm talking whole hand down the throat...and there have been way too many times of throwing up because of this.
I have been trying for a few months to redirect, ignore, give him chewing things, gum, food...nothing is stopping it! It is getting a little better, but still!!
I like Norway's idea of gloves...that was my first thought...but yeah, maybe there is something stuck way up there, if it came on suddenly...might be something to check into!?!?
Good luck, I imagine this is hard for you to tolerate.
There's nothing in the nose. I think it started with the start of allergy season. It's going on pretty badly here right now. I know my nose is all tickly each morning. I called the doctor about this and we're trying a new allergy medication. So far it seems to be working okay. The digging has died down a little. He's only doing it at night right before he goes to sleep. I notice him stimming alot during the time he's laying down. Stims aren't so bad during the daytime with him though. I understand about the whole hand gagging thing Niki. Brendon used to do that all the time. I got him a vibrating stick type thingie and we use that when he first starts gagging himself and that seems to work.My son does what I call "nose music" as a stim sometimes when he's falling asleep. It's like making a throaty noise while breathing out through his nose. It's hard to describe, but I guess my point is that maybe your son's nose stim has something to do with breathing, and thus helps him relax. If so, maybe breathing exercises would help, although he's maybe too young for that.
My cousin says to her kid, "are you pointing at your brain again..."
It seems like this gives him some sensory stimulation that he craves, so finding an alternative is possible.
Another possibility is that he actually has a foreign object way up in his nose. You might want to consider taking him to the doctor to rule that out.
You might also try gloves or bandaids on the fingertips so he physically can't put his fingers in his nose.
Good luck with everything.
My ds went through the gagging himself with his hands, I didn't ever think I would make him stop, but he stopped it on his own. And then started the finger in the nose thing, and that irritated the hell out of me. I would tell him "Skylar, that is nasty! you don't pick your nose" and come to find out it was his seasonal allergies. Now he only does it if there is a (i know this sounds really gross), hard booger way up in his nose. He cant stand to have things in his nose. So I started using a Q-tip with a bit of warm water or vasaline on it and have him sit still while I loosened it up and was able to get it out. Now we use an antihistamine for the allergies and I spray his nose every morning before school, seems to do the job.When I was a child I sucked my thumb and placed my pointy finger right up my nose..it was sensory related..felt good:P Did it way longer than I should have...
my mom just constantly took it out and the teachers did too..(yeah I did it in school too!) It will pass soon:P