My 6yo does this too, but she really takes it to the extreme. She chews on everything! fingers toys, shirts, her sisters.... She had stopped for a while after some SI, but we moved and now a year later she's chewing on shirts again. Gotta nip it in the bud before she starts chewing on the 3yo again. That was nasty business... and now the 3yo fights back! Could be scarey.
I was gonna ask Renee where to get those necklaces that are designed for this? I was thinking of making my own, but with my luck I'll end up making it with beads that come apart and she'll choke on it.
My ds who is now 8 did this big time when he was 2. He has done it off and on since then. In some stages, he would eat his toys, eat his sleeves and collar and bite holes in his shirt, eat buttons off his shirt, eat his eat his leather backpack strap, eat the spout off of sippy cups, etc! He sometimes slows down in his oral fixations but even now I notice that his collars are stretched out and soiled. It drives me crazy because I cannot pass his clothes down to his little brother.
chewing can be a sign of zinc deficency which is pretty common among spectrum kids. Kyle only had the chewies once, right after starting enzymes. I gave him a little zinc and it stopped. GL
My son stems by twisting his hair. I asked the Phsychologist if we should be trying to stop him and she said we need to divert it to something less harmful (he has a couple bald spots fromt he twisting). She told us to get a little pencil box, one for home, car and school. Fill it with items that he can fidget with, like squishy balls, silly putty and so forth. Now since your child's stemming is oral, I wonder if you could put items in there that would be safe to chew- like a teething thing or two, maybe even gum and so forth. We are getting ready to try the diversion and I will let you know how it goes.
I am just curious in what form you gave him the zinc and how big a dose. My son's multi has some zinc, like 80& of daily allowance, but he does still chew. Although I really notice the chewing escalation is completely related to stress levels and not indiscriminate whe he is or is not doing it. I guess what I am wondering is if his zinc needs are higher than the multi when he is under loads of stress, sure could be.
hmmmmm. Fortunately, he has no younger brother so I don't worry about hand-me-downs.
We do use lots of gum when he's super stressed, which does help.
I made a simple chew necklace out of NEW fish air tubing. You can also buy therapy or exercise tubing and do the same thing. Get the harder ones and they last longer but there are different levels of chewability. If you hang it to right about the hieght of his shirt it should deter it. The fish tubing is clear and of I do it right it isn't that noticable to others. Mike still has one but he only uses it at home, he won't wear it to school anymore because some kid made a comment last year. Now he typically chews on the straps to his backpack.
There are also new chewnecklaces I have seen to buy online. They are coiled and I am not sure how well they would work for Mike but they are easier and look a little more "normal".
Oh, and though he hasn't chewed his brother it was pretty nasty when he got to the point of chewing the bottoms of his shoes. At that point I didn't care if the necklace looked dorky.
I did put a leather shoelace through it and managed to make it look somewhat "cool".
Eric's oral stim is grinding his teeth. We have used a "teether" kind of thing that our OT recommended. It is shaped like a T and you can run a string through the top like a necklace. At first I didn't like the idea, that it was like a pacifier, but it has stopped him grinding his teeth. If he is chewing on something or grinding, I ask him if he needs his chewie and he does use it. I also have been giving him drinks with straws. He chews on the straws.
Here's a link to the T-chewie necklace thingy. Other cool stuff on this site, though you might be able to get it elsewhere cheaper. Renee's idea sounds better in a way bc it doesn't look so odd. But at Eric's summer camp, lots of the boys have these T-things so there it isn't a stigma. Don't know about at school in the fall though, but maybe he can keep it discretely in his pocket or something.
If that link doesn't work, the site is www.therapyshopee.com and go to the "oral motor fun" section.
I've heard that about zinc too but also haven't figured out a dose. Eric has it in his Brainchild supps. I've seen liquid zinc for sale, but wasn't sure dosage either. I've also hear that chewies are caused when their ratio of calcium, magnesium, zinc is out of balance, but again, don't know the amounts. Would love to know more about that.
My son Darby does this all the time too. He mostly chews books and DVD cases, but he's also chewed through cords!
I'm also curious about the zinc - how much and is it in any foods at all?
Darby also licks almost everything, and blows bubbles with his spit - which is disgusting. It doesn't matter what we do to try to get him to stop, he keeps doing it.
I gave 25 mg zinc gluconate tablet. Metagenics makes a liquid zinc that is tasteless unless if you are deficient but has a taste if you don't need it. I haven't used it but hear from a lot of people that reccomend it.
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My 6yo does this too, but she really takes it to the extreme. She chews on everything! fingers toys, shirts, her sisters.... She had stopped for a while after some SI, but we moved and now a year later she's chewing on shirts again. Gotta nip it in the bud before she starts chewing on the 3yo again. That was nasty business... and now the 3yo fights back! Could be scarey.
I was gonna ask Renee where to get those necklaces that are designed for this? I was thinking of making my own, but with my luck I'll end up making it with beads that come apart and she'll choke on it.
I wish I had an answer!
My ds who is now 8 did this big time when he was 2. He has done it off and on since then. In some stages, he would eat his toys, eat his sleeves and collar and bite holes in his shirt, eat buttons off his shirt, eat his eat his leather backpack strap, eat the spout off of sippy cups, etc! He sometimes slows down in his oral fixations but even now I notice that his collars are stretched out and soiled. It drives me crazy because I cannot pass his clothes down to his little brother.
chewing can be a sign of zinc deficency which is pretty common among spectrum kids. Kyle only had the chewies once, right after starting enzymes. I gave him a little zinc and it stopped. GL
-S
My son stems by twisting his hair. I asked the Phsychologist if we should be trying to stop him and she said we need to divert it to something less harmful (he has a couple bald spots fromt he twisting). She told us to get a little pencil box, one for home, car and school. Fill it with items that he can fidget with, like squishy balls, silly putty and so forth. Now since your child's stemming is oral, I wonder if you could put items in there that would be safe to chew- like a teething thing or two, maybe even gum and so forth. We are getting ready to try the diversion and I will let you know how it goes.
Good Luck.
Melissa
I am just curious in what form you gave him the zinc and how big a dose. My son's multi has some zinc, like 80& of daily allowance, but he does still chew. Although I really notice the chewing escalation is completely related to stress levels and not indiscriminate whe he is or is not doing it. I guess what I am wondering is if his zinc needs are higher than the multi when he is under loads of stress, sure could be.
hmmmmm. Fortunately, he has no younger brother so I don't worry about hand-me-downs.
We do use lots of gum when he's super stressed, which does help.
Sara
ilovemalcolm
I made a simple chew necklace out of NEW fish air tubing. You can also buy therapy or exercise tubing and do the same thing. Get the harder ones and they last longer but there are different levels of chewability. If you hang it to right about the hieght of his shirt it should deter it. The fish tubing is clear and of I do it right it isn't that noticable to others. Mike still has one but he only uses it at home, he won't wear it to school anymore because some kid made a comment last year. Now he typically chews on the straps to his backpack.
There are also new chewnecklaces I have seen to buy online. They are coiled and I am not sure how well they would work for Mike but they are easier and look a little more "normal".
Oh, and though he hasn't chewed his brother it was pretty nasty when he got to the point of chewing the bottoms of his shoes. At that point I didn't care if the necklace looked dorky.
I did put a leather shoelace through it and managed to make it look somewhat "cool".
Renee
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Eric's oral stim is grinding his teeth. We have used a "teether" kind of thing that our OT recommended. It is shaped like a T and you can run a string through the top like a necklace. At first I didn't like the idea, that it was like a pacifier, but it has stopped him grinding his teeth. If he is chewing on something or grinding, I ask him if he needs his chewie and he does use it. I also have been giving him drinks with straws. He chews on the straws.
Here's a link to the T-chewie necklace thingy. Other cool stuff on this site, though you might be able to get it elsewhere cheaper. Renee's idea sounds better in a way bc it doesn't look so odd. But at Eric's summer camp, lots of the boys have these T-things so there it isn't a stigma. Don't know about at school in the fall though, but maybe he can keep it discretely in his pocket or something.
http://www.therapyshoppe.com/product.php?cat=14&id=216&offset=12
If that link doesn't work, the site is www.therapyshopee.com and go to the "oral motor fun" section.
I've heard that about zinc too but also haven't figured out a dose. Eric has it in his Brainchild supps. I've seen liquid zinc for sale, but wasn't sure dosage either. I've also hear that chewies are caused when their ratio of calcium, magnesium, zinc is out of balance, but again, don't know the amounts. Would love to know more about that.
Katherine
Hi there,
My son Darby does this all the time too. He mostly chews books and DVD cases, but he's also chewed through cords!
I'm also curious about the zinc - how much and is it in any foods at all?
Darby also licks almost everything, and blows bubbles with his spit - which is disgusting. It doesn't matter what we do to try to get him to stop, he keeps doing it.
UGH!
Amanda
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