is this a trait ??

[MumOfThreeMonkeys]

my dd is going to the joint assessment clinic on wednesday to find out if she has ASD, she had a home assessment yesterday with a early intervention therapist, she could not tell us anything until wednesday but did say that dd has a lot of traits of ASD, this is totally not shocking as i would be surprised if they say she is not ASD. One thing the therapist was very shocked about was that my dd aged 5.3 puts everything in her mouth and i mean everything like, bread knifes, small toys, coins, washing powder, muck, poo if she got the chance- she mentioned pica to me, which i believe is like a craving for non food items. i asked was it normal for ASD kids to do this and she said hmmm maybe.

just wondering does anyone with asd dc have this problem or is it something else?

dd also licks things like peoples arms, lamp posts, cars...

My son doesn't .. My friends son does though and i've heard it's very common. I'm sure someone will be along in a minute who can give you a more personal experience

good luck with the assessment

thanx troutpout, does ur friends son have ASD?

He is being assessed atm ...but yes his mother thinks so.
My friends boy has really improved with age (in terms of mouthing/eating things) ... he had a few trips to a&e with swallowed objects when he was very little (he's 8 now). It's not really a big problem now.

im hopeful that dd will grow out of it to.. she can't go round licking people all her life

My son (DS5, 3.3y) has pica too, he eats anything and everything. and he always has something in his mouth - currently he likes screws and nails, last week was compost.

He is GF/CF, but when hes eaten food that he should not, his pica is much worse.

He hasnt been diagnosed as ASD, as his current paed doesnt believe in labelling. He has other stuff going on too, but he is on the spectrum somewhere.

thanx misscutandstick at least she's not alone in her strangeness

Hiya,

yup, my son does thinkgs like this all the time too. He's got a verbal dx of AS.

He licks absolutely anything and everything, walls, steps, cars, people....etc. and he also puts everything in his mouth, lego, snails, leaves, toys, bits of wood...etc.

I think it's ASD related. He's waiting for a Child Psychologist appoointment to help him to get out of doing these things.

Yup, my son who is undergoing ASD assessment constantly licks and chews things. My three year old now passes him bits of paper to chew! He licks his fingers and hands constantly too and has been known to lick the door handle at school

lol @ the doorhandle, my dd does this, omg we had to use toliets at the zoo during the summer (really dirty)(like really really dirty)..she licked the wall!

she must have one hell of an immune system

Ds picks up paper from the floor to chew so I know the feeling - yuk!