My DS is putting everything in his mouth

[waitingforgodot]

including toys and bubbles in the bath. He is 3 nearly 4 and it seems to be getting more frequent. He now likes to lick the taps in the bath and at the playground. He has an ASD diagnosis. Is this a sensory issue. Is it a normal developmental stage? Any hints/strategies on how to reduce it? Many thanks

Hi

My DS (aged 4) ASD is doing exactly the same thing. We have recently visited BIBIC (www.bibic.org.uk) and they agree that it is sensory. They suggested massaging DS's mouth with the back of a tooth brush and an ice lolly. You rub the brush/ lolly along the insides of the mouth including tongue and the lips to desensitize the whole area. Unfortunately, DS will not allow me to do this so I don't know how helpful this is. BIBIC gave us a whole lot of tips to help with sensory issues. The assessment was over two days and looked at all areas of development and only cost us £50 administration fee plus hotel costs. We found them really helpful as DS's behaviour is very difficult at the moment and they gave us lots of pointers.

regards

jackny

PS DS is spitting and dribbling - we wonder if this is also sensory. Not to mention the piece of bath sponge he put up his nose which mean a trip to A&E.

my dd has done this from about the age of 18 mths. Is nearly 5 now and noticing its not quite so much now. We got her some of the chewy tubes (scroll down). We clip them to her clothes with a dunny clip / mitton clips

This time last year she was wanting to mouth stuff so much it really was getting in the way of all her therapies / schooling. Tend to notice now she does it more if she's tired / in pain.. and when she's bored / done with an object. But hey progress, least its not the first thing she does with any given thing!

er dummy clip - typo. Not some toilet thing

My DS is an oral sensory seeker and he is 7. It has not improved really and there is little we can do apart from trying to supply more appropriate things to chew e.g. popcorn, the top of his waterbottle at school. He is unaware he is doing it and I only really intervene when it gets dangerous! He seems to need it!

My dd2(4.1 ASD) till puts things in her mouth (and up her nose) but not as much as she did 6 months ago. Today she has eaten a wax crayon (or 2). When we go out i sometimes let her have her dummy in her mouth to stop her picking things up and putting them in her mouth, i could really do with replacing the dummy for something else but i cant find anything she likes . Dd2 does it more when she is bored (will play with play-dough for 20 minutes, then get fed up and eat it).

thanks for all your replies. I will give the ice lolly thing a go and if that fails then I think a chewy looks like a good option!