Oral sensory seeking - ideas??

[cornwallia]

I have an 8 year old Aspie who chews lots of things.

Generally, and unfortunately, he seems to prefer tiny little pieces of things to chew - lego bits, bits of paper.

He also likes very salty foods and is always snacking on crisps.

They let him have a break in school in the morning but he still chews things constantly. I walked into open afternoon to find him with some staples in his mouth!

We had a meeting with the OT at school with his TAs and we talked about looking for something small, salty, quite hard he could keep in his pocket and chew as he went. The sort of hard bits you might get in bombay mix I suppose.

Any ideas???

chewey tube? here ?

I am a chewer, sad to say i never grew out of it but i now only do it in private, i found drinking straws to be a good thing to chew on, gum also helps (but maybe not possable with a 8 year old at school).

Thanks Marne. It's little bits that he likes. Bits of paper he chews up, he bites bits of his books or pencils or chews lego or toy parts. Something he can manipulate in his mouth I think!

my ds chews he has adhd he loved to chew his clothes and anything else he could get hold of.....1 day we forgot his chewy stuff when going out in car. when i looked at the car door he had taken the door electric window switch out and eaten it and he had chewed on the wiring too

My DS chews also. Lots of ruined collars on school polo shirts, cuffs on sweatshirts, coats obviously! Plastic zips don't last long. The thing that has lasted well has been the strong nylon strapping on his rucksack. Do you know the sort of thing? Nylon webbing, it won't break off so he won't swallow it. Maybe too big for your DS's taste but small things can be ingested so you need to discourage them.

Yes, indeed, they can, and obviously plenty of discouragement goes on. But there is obviously a sensory need there for a particular sensation and while we are trying to suggest he chews something less dangerous, both I and the OT thought it might assist to offer something edible as an alternative.

Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds maybe? Or peanuts.

Julian Groves or Holland and Barrett?

argh.. DS is exactly the same.

He chews the edges of his tops or eats pieces of lego - I popped up to check he'd gone to sleep and out of his mouth (while asleep) fell a little lego head!

When he started school - he ate all the collars on his polo shirts incl. the buttons. 1/4 of the sleeve and collar of his jumpers and the knee of a new pair of trousers. He stopped for a while, but started again last term on his good jumper. We've only got this term to go, and then he moves into the Jnrs (new uniform), so I don't want to buy another jumper! :(

He's eaten to the wire in two pairs of earphones and now DHd XBox wire on the controller!

On top of anything else... I've just had to stop him eating another controller!

Think I might try a chewy toy, but not sure how to get that to work? He usually just puts in whatever is there at the time!

Dd3 chews stuff too, usually clothing either collars or buttons. Any tops with zips she will chew the zips. Oh and tv buttons and pen tops all have teeth marks in around here.

Don't know what the answer is sorry but it seems you are not alone.

We had to get new dining room chairs because DS2 had chewed the tops of the ladder backs, all the varnish had gone and the saliva soaked wood went black! We've got thick leather backs now, too wide for him to bite. Any eraser topped pencils get the metal chewed off, too.

Liquorice root sounds like a good idea, zzzzz.

i dont know if this helps but i also have a son who chews on everything named above not continously but has moments so i bought him a teething vibrator toy! the once we would use when they were babies! seems to have worked. he puts less things in his mouth at the same time likes the vibrating sensation in his mouth.