Hands in the pants | Autism PDD

Ben did this alot. I also was ALWAYS telling him HAND OUT OF PANTS, I finally gave up and started putting him in bib overalls, one piece sleepers and pants that were snug,no elastic. I only was careful about what clothes I put on him for a couple of weeks and now he NEVER puts his hands in his pants.My N.T. (?) 8 year old always has his hands in his pants. He will be carrying on a conversation with just about anyone while he is doing this. I have to physically remove his hand most times as he doesn't seem to respond to my telling him. He has been doing this as long as I can remember. I don't remember my grown up son ever doing this, though. Ethan has his hand down the back of his pants usually. "diaper diving" as Tzoya calls it. I love that phrase. Having the same thing with my ds. We can't keep shirts tucked in for him having his hands in his pants, front and back. *big shrugs* Our kids are so similar, yet different at the same time.

ETA: He does it mostly when he is bored, but I started to think about detergents and agents that I use to launder his clothing. Maybe it's abrasive to him, but not to the eye. Or more than likely it's the fact that he hates having clothes on so he has to do something for that skin to skin connection.
SunnynCJ39083.0026736111

"Hands out" probably the second most frequent thing I say in a day. If you did not catch this story earlier, maybe it will at least help you smile about it:

Student 1: (hands on penis during group instruction time)

Teacher: (quietly to student 1 who is at group table) "Take your hands off your penis"

Teacher walks away.

Student 2 to Student 1: "You have peanuts?"

I hope I don't sound weird but just wanted to say, Payton use to do it alot where people thought he had to go to the bathroom, but when I cut back on his starches and pasta intake-he stopped. I just thought i would share that.

jer was 5 when he was doing that. we asked many times for him to take them out.

he did- and hasnt done it in yrs....now he picks skin, lips, nose...we are on to other body parts...........

'stop pickin', jer'

Zack does this all the time to,the only thing that helps a bit is to make sure his underware are not to loose.

Linda

Thanks to all of you for your responses. Lots of advice and at least now I don't feel so alone here dealing with this. Karolysgirl: That is hilarious!!! Thanks for sharing that. Venus...You just reminded me that I can just ask my son why he does it and I did and his response was.."I don't know" . LOL thanks again to you all and Happy new year!!

Karrie

My daughter and son also used to do this. Like one of the other parents here, I bought clothes that they could not get their hands down, made sure they wore them, I did this till I noticed they stopped trying to get their hands under their clothes. Then I put regular clothes back on them. My son still does it once in a while but not extremely. I asked him why he did it and he said his pee pee was on the wrong side

Venus

No advice here either.......Lachlan has always got his hands down his pants. Success rate when you ask him to take them out 80%.

Mysh

Tony used to do that when he was younger; now, he mostly will pull his pants up way too high (remember Steve Urkel anyone?). He always wears sweatpants, so he will put his hands in the pockets and do this. I notice it is usually when he is stressed or adgitated (sp?) but I still tell him it is not a good thing to do.

My only suggestion is to be patient and persistent... you mentioned a recent move so he may just be adjusting in his own way with the changes. I would try try try to be even-keeled with the directive ("Adam...get your hand out of your pants...Thank you") and try to redirect him as you can. And try to go back to the squishy balls if that helped before.

Mary

Mary,

Thanks for the advice. I really do appreciate it. Got the squishy balls here and trying to redirect him there. Good to know that tony had the same issues and has now grown out of them.

To everyone else....Thanks so much for letting me know I am not alone!! You are all very appreciated.

karrie

And same here too...........and it seems to be occurring more and more often. :( Hope someone comes along with suggestions, and wish I had some myself. I don't know how old your son is but my girl is 6 and started all that business a year or so ago. Mainly when she is tired or deep concentration like on the computer. I was bothered because of where she chose to do it. We started telling her that she needed to go to her room or to the restroom, that no one wanted to see her do that. I have always heard that it is normal "exploring" and to not make it negative, yada yada yada. So, that has worked for us because she doesn't usually choose to go elsewhere because she doesn't want to stop her main activity. So, in doing that, we don't make it negative, but it distracts.No advice just "same thing here"

although she dosen't take it out when I ask

Ok here it is. I need suggestions here. Adam used to put his hand in his pants a lot and it went away with time. I used to be a lot when he was tired or even bored. We gave him squishy balls for sensory etc and eventually He seemed to grow out of it. Well recently...actually just before we started the whole moving process and taking him out of school he started back again with the hands in the pants constantly thing. This time it is worse than ever. It is constant. I am constantly telling my son, "Adam...get your hand out of your pants...Thank you." Nothing seems to be working. We will be in a store and here is my son waddling because his whole arm is down his pants!!! I know it's because of the change and everything and that makes me sad that it has effected him this much obviously. He immediately removes his hand when I tell him to but it goes right back in!!! Any suggestions?

Karrie