Mother in Need Report post Posted January 13, 2006 (edited) I was given some chewy tubes by an OT to help my son contain his chewing as a he was chewing everything that would go into his mouth, paperclips, small sharp items, buttons, his hair, his shirt, whatever he could put in his mouth would go in. His clothes looked quite disgusting... anyway, these chewy tubes are absolutely great. Apparently they are specially designed for people who need to chew in order to strenghten their jaws for medical reasons. Well, my sons jaws are well up to any kind of job as you may have gathered, and once used to this item (it's another change isn't it, and had to be gradually introduced and left out and managed and all that) it is a great stress reducer! I I would like to recommend it to anyone whose child has chewing tendencies. They are called chewy tubes, they are red though there are some other colours for slightly different purposes like very young children. They cost ?4.90 each + p&p and can be ordered from Kapitex on 01937 580211. If you want to see what I'm on about, I hope this links works: http://www.kapitex.com/index.page.php?page...hewytubes-range Oops, hopefuly somene clever will soon come round and sort out the link... Edited January 13, 2006 by nellie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nellie Report post Posted January 13, 2006 Mother in Need, Can you check if the link I copied is correct? Nellie xx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted January 13, 2006 Can you check if the link I copied is correct? Nellie xx O yes Nellie, B E A utiful!!! Thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adamsmum Report post Posted January 14, 2006 They look good. Adam has eaten the dining table and the end of the bed so may give them a try. the only thing is how to get him chewing this and not the furniture Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lynden Report post Posted January 14, 2006 I second them. We have the yellow ones for Logan and they're fab. For him they're to try and discourage dummy use and chewing on metal Definitely worth getting. Lynne Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baddad Report post Posted January 15, 2006 What a great idea! Wish I'd known about these when Ben was eating his sleeves and stuff. At the moment he's in hair twiddling phase, but when and if he turns back into Chewy McFee (- ooh what a give away - anyone old enough to get that reference won't want to admit it!) If i can work out how to do it I'll duplicate this in 'top tips'... i f I can't, i'll copy and paste it and it'll appear with my name at the top, so don't think I'm stealing your thunder, M-I-N, it'll be my 'L' status as a mod that's the problem! L&P BD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MumTee Report post Posted January 15, 2006 Thanks!! You're a star - I was looking for something after a visit to the OT so I'll give her the details too! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
loranderc Report post Posted January 15, 2006 Hi there has anyone tried letting their kid use chewing gum? M aged 6 chews his sleeve all the time but without seeing the chewy tube not sure how discrete or manky he would get one of these. I am aAbit worried about letting him try chewing gum as not sure if this would look worse? Any thoughts guys? It also seems that alot of our kids need extra oral stimulation to releive stress/anxiety. Has their been a poll on this? Lxxx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted January 16, 2006 If i can work out how to do it I'll duplicate this in 'top tips'... i f I can't, i'll copy and paste it and it'll appear with my name at the top, so don't think I'm stealing your thunder, M-I-N, it'll be my 'L' status as a mod that's the problem! Baddad, please do ! I also wished I had known about them before, that would have some a lot of clothing and a few boxes of paperclips LOL, not to mention pins and anything else small and dangerous... My idea was to pass the word around so others could use the plessures of them, hence putting them under top tips is a brilliant idea, so way to go! It took the O/T two months to track them down, buy them from the States and bring them to me, it took me from Firday afternoon till Monday morning to find the English distributor and get their price out of them! M aged 6 chews his sleeve all the time but without seeing the chewy tube not sure how discrete or manky he would get one of these. I am aAbit worried about letting him try chewing gum as not sure if this would look worse? My experience is that the chewy tubes pretty much look the same after several weeks of solid chewing. Chewing gum looks disgusting (too me anyway), is dangerous to the user (due to swallowing) and it is definitely banned everwhere. Now, I took my son into a meeting with the SENCO on Frday, and the first thing she said to him was "Do you really neeld to do that?" my son continued chewing and said "Yes, I do". Then the SENCO replied "No, you don't", looking at him in such a way as to saying 'you'd better remove it or else'. I stepped in at this point and said very clearly "Yes he does need to do that, it is a special stressreliver given to him by an O/T who was concerned over finding safer items for him to chew on" CONVERSATION OVER, SENCO LOSSED AS SHE COULD NOT GO AGAINST THE ADVICE FROM ANOTHER PROFESSIONAL Don't think you could get away with the bubble gum that way now could you? Yes the chews do make the kids stand out. But to be honest, my kid already stands out like a beacon. I think standing out that bit more may only make it clearer to other students (oops, typed stupids there by mistake LOL) that he is actually disabled and not just some freak and retard (sorry no offense meant to anyone, it is just that this is what he is being called behind his back and what his older brother is being teased with constantly). I think his imagine can only improve this way, by understanding of his needs,and by the alleviation of his stress. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Valiant_Skylark Report post Posted January 17, 2006 Both my boys were "chewers". Our OTs suggested buying a length of fish pond tubing(!) which is, apparently, non-toxic and just the right resistance to provide proprioceptive input to regulate "engine levels" ie how alert the child feels. (From Paed OT's The Alert Programme) Chewing on the length of tube has the effect of calming the child whose engine is running too high, supposedly, whilst at the same time can have an alerting effect on a child whose system is running too low. A length of fish pond tubing is a lot cheaper than ?5.00. VS xx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DaisyProudfoot Report post Posted January 17, 2006 Wish I'd known about these when one of my NT kids was younger - he's 13 and still chews everything in sight especially remote controls - a bit like that kid off Family Guy I'll know if he ever starts smoking cos he'll probably stop chewing Daisy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
suttoa Report post Posted December 1, 2010 There are some less 'obvious' alternatives out there. Chewlery is a pretty discreet and comes in colours suitable for both boys and girls and, because it's on a lanyard, it's always to hand. You can find a pretty good selection of the stuff here - http://store.mayer-johnson.com/uk/nsearch/?keywords=chewelry (other brands are available ya da ya da ya da) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
