My 6 y/o gs is into his third week of the new school year and overall seems to be getting along better than last year. He has been exhibiting a new behavior, however, that seems related to his sensory integrative disorder. He is constantly chewing and sucking on his shirt to the point where it is always wet and misshapen. He goes through his regular school routine with the part of the shirt near the neckline constantly in his mouth. He is still doing it when he comes to my house in the afternoons. He doesn't seem to be able to stop this behavior even though he knows that the other children view it as odd. He keeps the shirt up in his mouth practically all the time now except for when he is eating and sleeping. His mother has thought about giving him something to take with him to school to chew on; but even though this might save his shirts, the other children would probably still view his behavior as just as odd. Also she can't decide what might be a good item for him to chew on instead of the shirt. Have any of you had children who exhibited a similar behavior? If so, how did you deal with it?

By Lauram on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 09:15 am:

Douglas has done that at times- though it hasn't been really bad- and I do know of kids in his "spectrum" of disabilities that exhibit this behavior. I'm not sure what to call it though- it could be a tic, it could be a sensory issue- I've even heard of it with OCD and ADHD. But like I said, with us and many other of the kids I'm talking about they have so many labels that I don't know exactly where it is coming from. At least it's not his body! Sometimes they hurt their body (like pick at scabs, chew fingernails, etc....) As far as how to deal with it, I think that would depend on where the behavior is coming from. I would try experimenting with giving him something like chewing gum or a lollipop to see if he can use that as a substitute for the behavior. I would NOT punish him for it because I doubt he can help it. Another idea is just sending him with a couple of shirts because maybe the behavior will just disappear on its own (many times tics do that- my son's last for about 3 mo. Though there are certain ones that hang around....) Good luck. Hope that helps!

By Beth on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 09:46 am:

My sisters ds is three and he has autism. He does this and at first they gave him pacifiers for awhile. But he is obviously to old for these. When she was here this weekend she gave him this sensory toy that looked kind of like a toy hammer. It had different textures on it. She would take his shirt out of him mouth and give him that. It would be hard for you to do that though since he does it a lot at school. Also he is to old for a chew toy so to speak. I would think like Laura said though that the gum would work the same way. Good Luck

By Amyj on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 11:40 am:

My son has done this from time to time and chewing gum has really helped. I have him chew gum on the way to school and it has helped him to stay calm and satisfies the oral need. I'm not sure how this will work now that he will be at school all day, but I think I will put gum in his lunch box and just tell him to chew during recess. I will also talk to his teacher so that she knows ahead of time. Let us know what helps!

By Audreyj on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 12:46 pm:

PERFUME!!!! Just a "little dab will do it" though. My daughter has chewed on her shirt and on her hair. I put just a tad of perfume on her hair/shirt, when it stopped tasting good, she stopped doing it. But use a "strong" perfume, I found Gloria Vanderbilt worked well so did Clinique's "Happy". Perfumes that smell of fruit or flowers did not seem to deter her. Of course, I had hoped they would, but no, it was the EXPENSIVE (lol) stuff that did the trick! Try something that smells good but doesn't TASTE good! It took us forever to figure out NOT to use Strawberry or Orange scented shampoo (she chewed her hair because it tasted like fruit) now we use Baby Shampoo--tastes like soap!!! Who wants to eat soap??? (lol) The Pediatrician told us some kids go through a chewing phase. Hope that helps.
AJ

By Feona on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 07:40 am:

If the gum helps, I would ask the teacher if he can chew it in class. I am sure she has noticed the chewing anyway.

By Robin on Thursday, January 6, 2005 - 10:23 am:

Hello to all. I am new on this board (not Momsview, however). My son did this too. I simply asked him why he did it (his special need is speech disfluency). He said he was thirsty and that sucking the shirt helped him. He now has a water bottle with him at all times (school allows this) and he sucks on that instead. I don't know if it will help in your case but thought I'd share.

By Missmudd on Thursday, January 6, 2005 - 07:26 pm:

My 8 yo does this sometimes, you may just want to try different necklines. I have found that some of his shirts just *beg* to be chewed on while others do not. Anything loose is a no no. Tight to the neck t shirts or button shirts are less likely to be munched on. 2 of my 4 have done this, I think it is just a nervous habit that they give up after a while. GL

By Gammiejoan on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 11:45 am:

Laura, I am really wondering if my grandson's shirt chewing behavior was a "tic" because he only did it for a total of three to four months and hasn't done it at all now for at least two months.

By Lauram on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 05:44 pm:

Hmmm...interesting. Did something else take it's place or have things gotten better altogether? (Either way, it could still be a tic.)

By Gammiejoan on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 08:37 pm:

Laura, in the past anytime a similar behavior stopped something else took its place. This time, however, nothing has been substituted and overall he seems better.

By Lauram on Sunday, January 30, 2005 - 11:30 am:

Great! Sometimes these things can come and go. It's called wax and wane.