Viper Report post Posted June 18, 2005 Hi all. Ben has develpoed a new habit of chewing his clothes, hands, fingers and various other bits and bobs. He has not done this before, except as a baby he's now 4, 5 in september. He does it all the time. At the moment he is chewing his thumb but he chews his tops as well, making them very wet and even bites holes in them. Is this a stim? He is having lots of changes in his life right now, my husband is going away tomorrow, for a week and Ben is not reacting to it at all, in fact he said today that he wish he would hurry up and go as he is getting on his nerves, Ben loves his dad so I can't understand why he said it. Is this his way of dealing with it? Viper. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest flutter Report post Posted June 18, 2005 (edited) Im sure he doesnt want rid of your husband, he just needs the bad bit to come and be over with, if that makes sense? he need to get to the bit , so that he knows how he can deal with it, cos jsut now he is in 'negative' ( dunno better word sorry) anticipation a bit like when you want something good to happen? hope it gets betta soon thinking of u C x Edited June 18, 2005 by flutter Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
loulou Report post Posted June 18, 2005 Hi Viper, Kai went through a stage of chewing when he was at school. He always chewed his tie or his jumper sleeves (making holes). He actually got sores in the corners of his mouth from all the dribbling. Once he was out of school it stopped, so for him i think it was anxiety related. At home he chews his fingers or nails when he's anxious about something. Hope it stops soon, Loulou x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zemanski Report post Posted June 18, 2005 Com chews his toes and sucks his thumb didn't start till he started school definitely anxiety related Ben may be anxious about just about anything but if his dad's going away then he's anticipating another big (for him) change. His negative reaction to his dad going away may actually be more to do with wanting to get past the moment that he is worrying about (ie getting it over and done with) than not caring - in fact he may be acting that way because he cares so much and is finding the whole thing so difficult to come to terms with. stay strong Zemanski Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lil_me Report post Posted June 18, 2005 I'd say your possibly right about stim/coping strategy My son was chewing things inc himself was coming home with bite marks, so we told him to stop it and he started pulling at his clothes instead, then figured out he was itchy with the detergent I used to wash his clothes with aswell and sensitive to the smell of it so we changed that. But didn't change him chewing at himself. Sometimes my son denies being affected by something in the way your son has Viper but his coping strategies increase so I know it is affecting him . He maybe isn't hoping he is going sooner but I think he is hoping that he'll be back sooner if he goes quicker as you no doubt have explained how long he'll be away for . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shell Report post Posted June 18, 2005 Steven went through a stage of chewing thing mainly my underware and his school jumperthis stoped about his 6th birthday but now he eats wood and has eaten his bunkbed (we now have a metal one) and also the top of his bedroom door when asked why by the doctor he looked at him and replyed that it tasted nice the doctor then looked at me and said i should change his diet as he was lacking some vitimin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lil_me Report post Posted June 18, 2005 (edited) Sometimes cravings are linked to some sort of mineral/vitamin deficiency (more minerals than vitamins I think usually) but sometimes I think when its just chewing its the stimulation of it. I know with my son I have to give him something to do with something instead of saying no and with wood I would be making him aware it is dangerous and could end up with a piece stuck in his mouth/throat. What about liquorice root shell, same type of texture as wood Also must think of the sensitivity issues invloved, the feel of it, and most children on the spectrum have 'different' tastes for food if allowed to explore, I know 2 who would eat all the soap in the house if allowed, inc one who will drink liquid soap, and these are not youngsters. If you didn't see the social reasons for not chewing on a door or safety reasons with regards to wood treatment,spelks etc etc as you liked the taste would you have a nibble? of course you would . Edited June 19, 2005 by lil_me Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Suze Report post Posted June 19, 2005 Hi Viper...don,t know if this is relevant as probable cause of the chewing is anxiety..but have you heard of retained infant reflexes?..My son had/has several he had a dummy and bottle at he age of 5.He still needed the reassurance/stimulation a baby has when sucking/mouthing objects.I,m not knowledgeable but the O.T helped and I did find info on it in Autism literature.He did exercises with the O.T and has been tons better.Don,t know if this is relevant. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
call me jaded Report post Posted June 19, 2005 Though we had lots of success with OT, this wasn't one of them. What worked for us was using a mineral supplement. I believe the technical term for mouthing/eating non food items is 'pica' and it's probably connected to zinc deficiency (more broccoli, then). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Corcaigh Report post Posted June 19, 2005 (edited) My son is obsessively chewing all his top/shirts and this stimming has been going on for the past year (at least!). It's driving me mad! All his shirts and t-shirts are finely laced with holes from his teeth and I am fed up with buying new ones! I do not give a toss any longer, he wears them anyway, he does not give a toss either My son goes through a lot of stimming obsessive behaviour all the time. if he doesn't chew he curls his hair obsessively to the point that, when he was about 5 (he was going through a very anxious stage) he produced a bald patch on his head. Lately, if something worrying is going on (for instance in school) he obsessively and nervously "blink/squeezes" his eyes until the worry is gone. My son is very anxious and all this chewing and pulling is a product of his anxiety. We are trying to tackle the problem acting on his anxiety rather than on his stimming behaviour. It's more a cognitive process than behavioural. And it's very, very difficult... Edited June 19, 2005 by Corcaigh Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted June 19, 2005 I remember my daughter going through this phase too when she was about 6 or 7 - the front of all her T shirts were discoloured and wrinkled from it and she would even chew buttons in half. We had her hair cut short because she was chewing that too. I don't think we ever managed to discourage her. The phase passed and then she went on to something else. Now she twists the corner of a favourite duvet cover which she carries everywhere - not such a problem. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hollymg Report post Posted June 20, 2005 It's so nice to come here and meet other people going through the same thing. My 5yo ds--who insists on long-sleeves--recently began this habit out of the blue. His sleeves are in shreds, but I can't throw them away because he is so picky about his shirts I'd never be able to replace them (as it is I have to do wash a lot because he only has 3 currently on the acceptable list!). This post made me notice that it has eased or possibly stopped recently, and now looking back at the onset/stopping I think it was the stress of school getting out and summer starting. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jools Report post Posted June 20, 2005 my son chews his buttons off his school tops in half or off all together. he chews his fingers, arms, bunk beds, clothes, paper, blue tack......anything he can find basically! we bought him some baby chewing rings from elc with different textures and when he starts biting and chewing we give him these which he is happy to use Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MelowMeldrew Report post Posted June 20, 2005 Obviously quite a common occurence, my child did it, it usually happened at school too, and, when he was left too long without attention, he's stopped now thank goodness but we wrote off dozens and dozens of shirts. If he is chewing long sleeved clothing buy SHORT ones ! Wool was a bit of a magnet too, as was anything that had 'string' on it (Like jogger bottoms and laces). I replaced all his shoes with velcro and he had then no laces to chew, stopped him overnight. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carol Report post Posted June 20, 2005 My NT lad has chewed the sleeves on all his school jumpers - he always has to have something in his mouth - always eating paper, plastic, string whatever lol - he is going to the high school after the holidays & I have warned him on pain of ban that he is not to chew the sleeves (same size as his older brother so not bought any new school jumpers lol) My aspie lad (13) still eats the necks of his TShirts - but now they just get wet -not as many with holes in them lol never occured to me it could be a stim as he does it when he is Runescape & he is always happy when he is on that - now I am going to see if it is when he is using Runescape to chill & de-stress rather than just playing it iykwim that he is chewing - he does it when watching telly as well - so a relaxation tecniue possibly? Carol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sarahjane Report post Posted June 20, 2005 Hi H has also just started chewing (6) the tops of his t shirts, i have no idea why. He also chews the his arm if getting anxious but this is an anxiety related thing . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Valiant_Skylark Report post Posted June 23, 2005 Our OT suggested buying short lengths of non-toxic fish pond tubing for the boys to chew on as part of their "ALERT programme". This works the jaw and joint muscles ie proprioceptive input, leading to a calming or alerting effect if their "engine" is running too high or too low. Youngest son is chewing his Beaver's necker furiously at the mo... Valiant_Skylark xx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lesley Report post Posted June 23, 2005 My son is 4 and chews his clothes - he's always dribbled (we think verbal dyspraxia - he has specch/language disorder too) so we got used to the wet t-shirts early on! He also sucks his thumb and combines it with 'twiddling' a label - any label as long as it's silky. As a baby I can remember taking his t-shirt off in the pram & giving him the label to help calm him. I asked him a few months ago, when he was knawing on his t-shirt, why he didn't suck his thumb instead if he wanted something in his mouth for comfort. He replied "I cant suck my thumb - I haven't got a label!" Enough said... Lesley Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites