does anybody have a child that over stuffs their mouth when eating? My son is 12 yrs old, and has Asperger's, He has been doing this since he was young and we have never been able to stop him from doing it. He also eats very, very fast? Any advise is welcome. Thanks
We call it chipmonking.
I was a SLOW eater who did this.
For one thing, maybe try to give him smaller eating implements to slow him down ... or chopsticks? Just a thought of one way to make him more aware.
My ds has done this for a long time, and we've always been scared of him choking from stuffing so much in his mouth, and he also eats very quickly.
We were told it's a sensory issue, it was suggested that we give plenty of crunchy things to eat, also milkshakes are good from a sensory standpoint. Maybe talk to the OT at school, they should have some ideas.
Nothing has really worked for my ds, we've just decided it's something he's always going to do.
Good luck.
My dd does it--we are told from ST it is sensory as well as dd's low-toneC was a "stuffer" until around 3-4ish. He grew out of it. I was told it was a sensory thing. I would consult your OT for advice - we didn't do anything special about it though we did do sensory integration therapy in general. Sorry I don't have specific advice...
Hi Loki,
Chris does this too. We just repeatedly keep reminding him to not put so much in and slow down. I have learned that with my kids it takes a long, long , long time for things to "click". So, we have to repeat everything we say for literally years before certain behaviors stop. Eventually they do get it. Good luck!
Kath
My son did this when he was younger. At that time, no one considered it a big problem. Now at the age of 10 he is on the specturm. I started only giving him bites of food at the time. He now eats very fast and still puts too much food in his mouth, but not to the choking point anymore. Iwas not sure if this was a common thing amoung specturm children. I guess I know now.My son does this too.We give him aliitle bit at a time now,even though he still stuffs its not so much now Ali does....she is tough to get to eat/feed herself but if she likes something she will put ALL of it in her mouth. Last night she almost choked on a mouth full of fries.