Pica

[CarolineHelston]

My grandson's nursery can't carry on looking after my grandson now 2 years 9 months because he puts things like wood chips (in outdoor play area) in his mouth. Indoors he tends to eat board books. So he needs one to one supervision/diversion. My grandson is also non-verbal and the community paediatric service think everything is consistent with autism. Would be interested to hear from other parents whose children have/have had pica. How many children eventually stop eating non-food items? Or is it something that children are likely to continue doing from time to time?

My 4 year old has asd and pica. He constantly puts things in his mouth and eating play dough is his favourite! The nursery have been great in diverting him and where possible try to use non toxic materials that they think he may eat. Your grandsons nursery have a responsibility to do the same. No way should he be excluded for this

Thanks. What the nursery is saying is that they will only look after him if - via an EHCP plan - they can get extra funding for someone to look after him 1 to 1. The situation seems to have come to a head when my daughter asked for them to take her child for additional hours later in the year. I think the inappropriate putting stuff in a mouth has become more of an issue because now my grandchild is at an age when most children will have stopped doing this.

I can’t help with the PICA issue but depending on where you live the nursery can apply for early years inclusion funding - it is available in all LAs once 3, but some LAs offer it for 2 year olds. Has an EHCNA request been submitted?