Did you eat things you shouldn't as a child?

[ofwarren]

I don't do these things now, but as a child I used to suck coal. My dad was a coal miner and we had a shed full of the stuff. I also used to suck wet sponges and flannels.

My eldest brother who is also autistic but needs full time care used to eat poo if you didnt catch him in time. This happened till he was toilet trained at about 9.

My eldest son who has an aspergers diagnosis still chews things he shouldn't and he's 19. He chews mainly plastic and thin bits of metal, so bottle tops, coat hangers, whole pens etc. His room is littered with plastic fragments.
As a young child he would chews through the cuffs of his clothes.

I have quite bad TMJ disorder as I bite down so much. I'm wondering if this is possibily a stim too.

@ofwarren oh my goodness yes! Coal as well! When I would be a bit too quiet for a while as a child my mum would check on me, and I'd often be found in the coal bunker, gnawing away! 😂

There's a name for this: pica (not an acronym). Eating or chewing inedible items. It's a common Nd trait.

Means magpie :) I like magpies.

My DS chews on plastic bits. When he was younger he used to chew on his sleeves if his anxiety was getting too much for him. He also taste random things just to see how it tastes, the last one being a dog biscuit (which apparently is very dry 😁)