Hi
I am very tentative coming over to the SN boards, my DS does not have any diagnosis (yet), he is 2.4 and language delayed, and I have a pretty fair idea already that he has some AS traits (whether or not this pans out to be clinical AS). I am going through a lot of difficulty and fear accepting this (and my DH will not even yet consider that he might have any kind of diagnosis) but I am trying to deal with it at present on a day-to-day level by looking at some practical solutions to today's everyday issues.
Well, no more about that at present, I will have to see where this journey takes us. So: what I wanted to ask people's opinion about was solutions for CHEWING. Chewing shoes, books, clothes etc. I have tried the route of stopping his chewing, taking the things out of his mouth, saying NO, getting stern with him etc, it just leads to untold tears and misery (on both sides). I have read somewhere on the Internet that getting him to chew instead on a specific chewing toy/necklace etc can be a good plan. It surely has to be better than all his shoe buckles, clothes etc always being all wet with spit? What do people think about this? As he just loves to chew velcro (it seems to calm him down no end) I have thought about making him a special toy with velcro straps coming off it. Or is this a bad idea and will just teach him that it is OK to chew, when I should really be discouraging him?
Any ideas gratefully accepted!