My son's stimming behaviors include dropping quarters, spinning quarters, armpit farts, weird finger motions, spinning, and also sometimes sucking on things.
I have two answers for you to consider:
1) it's possible that he's doing this because he's stressed. Find out what he's stressed about. When I started having my son take Zoloft his anxiety level went way down and so did many of these behaviors.
2) I tell my son that he can do these things in his own room, but not in the rest of the house. I think he should be able to "relax" by doing these things, but needs to learn that these are "alone time" behaviors and not "social" behaviors. So if he wants to hang out with the family in the rest of the house, he has to not do these. If he wants to do these, he has to go to his room. (Don't we all need to learn this?)
2) I tell my son that he can do these things in his own room, but not in the rest of the house. I think he should be able to "relax" by doing these things, but needs to learn that these are "alone time" behaviors and not "social" behaviors. So if he wants to hang out with the family in the rest of the house, he has to not do these. If he wants to do these, he has to go to his room. (Don't we all need to learn this?)
We have the same rule. I've explained that everybody does things in private that they do not do around other people.
Tenj, it IS nose picking .... I've given up on stopping it. If we can just get it into the bathroom and get hands washed I will consider it a great victory.
7, Thumb sucking is a direct path to orthodonture. I am struggling with a thumb sucker who really, really wants to stop. She is 7 and understands what it will do to her bite if she doesn't stop. She has put socks on her hands at night. I despise chewing gum, but the health food store has real licorice sticks .. you know, sticks. It would take a long time to chew one down and it actually is good for the stomach. Let you know if it helps.
My son puts everything in his mouth - his thumb, his fingers, his clothing, his toys, pens, pencils... He tends to do it as a stim, I think? He's 8 years old and it's actually getting worse, not better.
I have explained many times that it is unhealthy (germs) bad for his teeth (which are gowing in wrong), bad for his pronunciation, risk of choking, ruins his clothes etc. We've put nasty tasting thumb polish on for thumb sucking and it hasn't helped.
He's a very logical kid and most things I can talk him out of, but this is just so hard for him to break. We've also used rewards and taking things away - nothing is working.
He tends to do it when he's nervous, bored or anxious...
Does anyone have any ideas?
I've started to tell him to try to bite his lips instead... but I dont' know if that'll help.
Thanks for any experiences or feelings about the issue you may have that could help me understand, even if you don't have solutions...
So has it improved? If not, you may want to look more at the triggers ("when he's nervous, bored or anxious") and perhaps get professional help with those issues if needed. Subsituting more socially acceptable ways of taking care of his sensory needs is probably a good route. Suggestions are in a book called "Take Five!" by Mary Sue Williams and Sherry Shellenberger, http://www.AlertProgram.com
Our son used to eat his shirts a lot until I pointed out that he was ruining his shirts and that they had holes in them (however he did care how they looked). The therapist recommended giving him a piece of cloth to chew instead (which worked for about a minute). He is still sucking his thumb at home at age 6 1/2 but does not do it at school. I don't make any big deal out it as I know that would make him do it more. I do extract the thumb from his mouth when he is sleeping though as it is not that great for the teeth and for breathing easily.
Oh yes, I remember I would hand him something else to do with his hands (like a "Transformer" toy) to play with when he started eating his shirt. For an older kid you would need to find something else that looks socially acceptable and is quiet if he is at school. The idea is that he needs to do something with his body as a way of regulating his system. For oral motor stimulation can try using straws and exercise water bottles. Try musical instruments that you have to blow into. Also, whistling and humming perhaps?
It is a very old article from about 6 years ago, I don't know whether I would be able to find it. I will have a look later though.
I used to suck the mud from stones when I was very little. I had to have my stomach pumped and alot of injections. It was good in a way because I am now immune to alot of the germs I could pick up.
I was never allowed gum as a kid, since I would always take it out of my mouth and play with it. It usually ended up stuck in my hair.
I chew on toothpicks now quite a lot.
Children who eat dirt or mud often present with a condition referred to a PICA, and it usually is a result of a vitamin defeciency.
I found this helpful for my hair chewing/eating autistic child.
Depending on how much he cares about popularity, you could tell him that his peers wouldn't find him doing it 'cool'.
One oral thing my mum managed to deter me from for a number of years was hair eating, but that was because she told me that if I carried on doing it I could die and then she showed me a newspaper article proving it. Maybe if you supplied proof to your claims, it may help.
I used to keep files of people that I made of paper and drew pictures of things they did to me.
You draw silly pictures of them too eg. pictures with bad faces. I used to draw people I disliked as "boogy men" and "boogy women" with big teeth and fake looking smiles.
I just ordered a ChewEase from SensoryCritters.com. I'm finally realizing that all these "bad habits" I've been fighting are stims. I started off with a pacifier which I had until I was seven. Immediately after quitting that, I went on to biting my nails, and I've been doing that ever since. I'm chewing on a pen right now instead of my nails, and it seems like I'm getting more work done in the office because of that... hopefully having that ChewEase will be a healthier option (for my teeth anyway, and no risk of choking on it!) and I'll continue to get more work done, plus no more chewing on my nails. I'll let you know how that works.