newbie quick ? my 2 year old nephew is starting to put his fingers into his mouth until he gags...he thinks this is funny. is this an example of stimming? What can be done to try to get him to stop? thanks in advance for your help!You don't say if your nephew is developmentally delayed or is suspected of some form of autism.  If you give us a bit more info, perhaps there are people here who can give YOU more info.i'm sorry, new to all of this. He is on the spectrum. no other delaysNot enough info.  Being "on the spectrum" IS a developmental delay.  Is he getting OT?  This could be sensory.  Does he have other stims?  Is he getting tons of attention for doing this (in which case, it's likely it won't go away anytime soon). Hi:   All I can say is this.  My son, Alex (ASD) , used to do this a lot more when he was about 2.  It seemed to be a mixture of sensory beahavior, stimming, and then ultimately attention-seeking behavior.  The only thing that worked to to stop it (mostly) was: ignoring it.  Keep in mind he was getting at the time: occupationa therapy (as well as sensory therapy, speech therapy, developmetal therpay, etc).  It is something to bring up w/the therapist for sure. I know how upsetting the sound can be, Tell his mom to hang in there,   Angie      Thank you all so much for your help, my sister is beside herself with the whole situation. Her husband is not a big help in any of this. he is still in the "nothing is ever going to help stage", which is adding more stress to the situation for the whole family. But the rest of us are trying to pull together to make sure my nephew gets everything he needs to function as well as possible and get the help he needs. I want to clarify something.  PDD-NOS IS on the autism spectrum. That is why it's called a spectrum. It encompasses more than just classic autism. The three main medical dx's are Autism, PDD-NOS and Asperger Syndrome.  Educationally, they are all considered Autism.  Your sister should get on the horn and call EI in your area right now.  There is PLENTY they can do when a child is only 2.  That's about the earliest time most kids get services. Do not let your sister delay.  The window of opportunity for learning language starts to close at age 4 and most kids, by 5, are at the functioning level they will be (of course, they will all improve, but 5 is the age at which the true functioning level of the child becomes more apparent, usually).  So, you see, there is not much time.  If you want to get a bead on where your nephew is on the Spectrum, go to www.childbrain.com and click on the PDD assessment tab.  Take that assessment based on YOUR knowledge of your nephew and also ask that your sister take it since she knows far more about his daily behaviors.  YOu will get a score.  It's only a way to give yourselves (and the doctor) more direction. he is getting ot for feeding, only about 2 hrs amonth. my sister has tried not to reinforce the behavior by giving him something else. the neurologist said he was on the spectrum but another doctor said he has pdd-nos. the main problem is he is not talking and their are some self stim behaviors, esp. when excited, like he plays with fingers, arms, aimless running etc. Firstly, I say give that BIL of yours a big kick in the behind.  He has got to be with your sister on this in order to help his son.  He may or may not believe in any of the treatments, but just the emotional support for your sister would do wonders for everyone! Secondly, my daugther did (and still does) the gagging thing.  It is absolutely a sensory issue and like Angie, I tried to ignore it or diverted her attention to something else.  Just have your sister move his hand away without making much of a deal about it and hopefully he will decrease this behavior.  Goodluck.  If/when this stops, just be on the look out for different behaviors.  It always seems like my Lauren just replaces one thing with another.  I just deal with them as they come and try to help her as much as possible.  Michele38975.3353472222A couple of my NT kids did that!! They thought it was very funny. They got a great reaction from me!! Until I decided to ignore them. Then it stopped.
	Copyright Autism-PDD.net