End of Week Round Up
After juggling the drop offs between Steve and I this morning, I spent the day at work (relief teaching at the secondary school where I once taught full time) and ended up having lunch with one of the teachers assistants (aides). I hadn’t met her before, but when she discovered I had an autistic son we chatted for a long time, with her asking lots of questions about life with Jack. I think she really liked getting a parent’s perspective on a lot of things, and she was really interested in knowing how I handled life in general. I was pleased in the fact that she had a very positive outlook on our discussion, and felt that the more people who knew about autism, the better. We discussed the fact that people really needed to be aware of autism, and be able to learn about it in order for it to become more accepted and less judged. Ahhh, a breath of fresh air… to have a conversation such as this out of a therapists office and away from our blog was really quite uplifting.
On a different note, Jack has recently reverted to the need for having something in his mouth constantly. He chews on his toys (or anything else that he picks up ) and we have been trying to explain to him that not everything is appropriate for chewing. His response to this is always “but I just need to chew it”! So I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a chew toy of some sort… preferably something that is age appropriate, that he could keep in his pocket or on a key ring. We’d really like to be able to replace the chewing of toys and things like coins before he accidently swallows something he shouldn’t!
And Jack’s week at school? Pretty good! Despite the few issues that we’re working with him on at the moment, things seem to be progressing well. One day at a time…
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:45 am
It is a breath of fresh air when someone is interested in a positive way of our views.
When reading of Jacks need to chew on something i thought of the wine cork i bite on for stress relief of my jaw. But i dont think that is really age appropiate for him!!! Will have a think.
And lovely to hear that things are going well at school for him.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:50 am
Great you could have that discussion. I’m constantly amazed at how much info there still is for me to learn about Autism. I figure I’m no expert on Autism or Aspergers but I am an expert on my kid. So I work with the experts in the field and take their ideas and adapt them to my daughter. Thus far we’ve been pretty successful.
So glad Jacks school week went well.
One suggestion I heard to stop an 11yo Autistic boy chewing on his pencil in class was to divert the stim. In this case a rubber band around his chair legs for him to flick with his toes.
Or would chewing gum help?
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I remember when my kids were still in school…before we bagan homeschooling, teachers would panic at the fact that Niles chewed on pencils and ate crayons. I was constantly getting these letters and phone calls. I had to take him to the doctor and get blood work and well……I am sorry but it was really over the top! One teacher panicked thinking he was going to get led poisoning from his pencil!!!LOL…..
Oh how I love the sanity of homeschooling!LOL.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I have quite a few ideas for Jack and the need for something in his mouth as we are smack dab in the middle of that with our little one right now. And she has this need to smear her saliva all over the house - books, mirrors, her face, us, etc. ugh. Anyway, we’ve been looking into it and talked with a few therapists about something appropriate for her age (her baby brother’s teethers work but aren’t great for a three year old) and for out in public. I don’t have time to link to some of them now as we’re heading out the door, but I’ll email you later with some things we’ve found and are trying right now.
SOO happy about that conversation you had with the aide - very refreshing!!!
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:20 pm
our kids chew on straws incessantly. The Younger, who is more of the oral person, has started chewing gum. I give him half of what I have in my mouth so I’ve eaten most of the sugar out of it and it is small enough to not choke him if he swallows it. The older the gum is the harder it is to chew which is good. my other suggestion is raw baby carrots. my kids love them and its good for them too.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Part of the process, for an ASD parent, is coming to the realization that each and every ASD kid is unique, and their Asbergers is going to express itself differently in each and every child. Oh, there will be some things in common, surely, but there will be those things that are ‘unusual’, or not expressed in ‘my kid’ that will tend to remove the parent from the comfort of knowing and knowledgeable support that could otherwise be offered by other parents and professionals who deal with ASD kids. Sometimes, though, it’s just enough to know that the experience is shared. And sometimes, though, it is good to hear the care and concern in the approach and attitude of others. The one really good thing about ASD is that it makes for the best parents in the world.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Chewy tubes purchased through South Paw Enterprises.
http://www.southpawenterprises.com/store/chewy-tubes-knobby-2-pack,Product.asp
They also sell ones that are in the shapes of letters. Maizie has chewed these for years when her anxiety is through the roof. Not very expensive, washable and don’t draw attention to the child when needed.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
My OT mentioned plastic tubing. The kind they use in fish tanks. It can be knotted as well. Never worked here. My little one likes metal.
My eldest chews his sleeves when his anxiety is up. We’ve increased his meds and he’s stopped again, but for a while he was constantly chewing on them.
Sheri
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
The tubing is called a chewy-tube. I actually think it’s chewy-toob or some odd spelling. It’s available in therapy stores or an OT can get them. They come in different sizes, and I’ve seen them clipped to jeans belt loops, keyrings, and many other things. good luck!
February 26th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
My son also uses a chewy tube. His is in the shape of a T and you can run a string through it and hang it around his neck for easy access. His OT recommended it. I tried things like chewing gum, to no avail. I also give him drinks with straws that I send to school with him and that helps some. He chews the straw to pieces. Your OT or ST could probably recommend a place to get chewy tubes locally. I get a lot of things online from the place, “the therapy shoppe” and here is their oral motor link:
http://www.therapyshoppe.com/product.php?cat=14&PHPSESSID=85246b8dcd67c943288f2384498aff16
Katherine