Re: Self-stim

[Guest guest]

chews his fingers, has them so callused he looks terrible, almost

deformed. They tried the chew tube with him, didn't work. I don't see how a

chew tube would replace licking. I would think they could come up with

something better than that. He won't do it (IMNOHP) because it won't fulfill

the same need. Are there certain things he licks? used to like to lick

my truck window...looked like I owned a very big dog :-). It could be textural

- like smooth, hard, soft, metallic, etc. - or it could be hot a or cold thing.

And chewing a chew tube has absolutely nothing to do with head banging. I would

check into other solutions.

Just my opinion.

Loriann

[Guest guest]

a,

Does also have the ADHD diagnosis? is 10 and has the diagnoses,

DS-ASD, ADHD and ODD. We put him on a gluten free diet, and got rid of the

Dexedrine all together. They had switched him to Dexedrine from Ritalin because

he needed more Ritalin than his body weight would allow. That was before the

autism diagnosis, so we were probably trying to treat autism symptoms with

Ritalin (and that doesn't work). When he got evaluated ASD and ODD, they cut

the Dexedrine back from 22.5 mg a day to 10 mg a day, added Risperdal (for a

while Buspar, but had to go back to Risperdal). Prior to the diet he was on

10mg Dexedrine (5mg twice a day), 1.5 mg Risperdal (1 mg morning and night with

1/2 mg at 3pm), and a BP pill for his mitral valve insufficiency. After the

diet, we dropped the Dexedrine and dropped the 3pm Risperdal. I would almost

venture to say we could drop the ADHD diagnosis, the diet has helped that much.

Loriann

Wife to Dewight

Mom to , 10yrs, DS-ASD, ADHD, ODD

and , 11.5 months

[Guest guest]

many of our kids have a self stim behavior, nathan 8yrs w/ds pdd loves to

dangle shoestrings, and he knows work first then strings, he rarely even asks

for them anymore(yaaaaa) just does his work, still does lots of echollalia to

things he has heard and headbanging mainly only in the eve or early in the

night anymore, its been getting less as he ages, i think its a unloading time

for him so just remind him to sit on his bag (beanbag) and not whats left of

our furniture, and he isnt so easily overstimulated either, is this common do

our kids calm the older they get, or do i need to keep reminding him to put

his hands down when poture sim. scratching up his face/neck, wrecking his

numerous shirts, he will stop for a few secs then starts again so i just turn

off the over stim cause and he quits, but this isnt always possible. shawna,

mom to nathan 8yrs w//ds pdd and nicholas 7yrs

[Guest guest]

a,

My son Brook, 10 yrs is definitely a lot calmer than what he used to be.

He has a longer attention span and can now sit for a while without making a

run for it. Of course it depends on the situation, but he has improved a

great deal. I don't know if this is common or not and you have to realize

that a lot of kids are on medications too. He still gets overstimulated and

loves to wave his arms around like he's an airplane about to take off

whenever he gets really excited.

Marisa

[Guest guest]

yes, god knows weve tried our share of meds with biobehavioral training too

thats been the real help, we havent really found and med that works, right

now ritalin works pretty good, especially in calming him down one can almost

time it, but weve tried many others only use this one for now and just prn

during the summer months and for ST and OT to help him focus. shawna, mom to

nathan 8yrs w/ds pdd and nicholas 7yrs.

[Guest guest]

, We do alot of sensory integration with Gene. I think the only reason

you would want to get rid of a behavior is if it is harmful to the child or

it is keeping him from learning, progressing, etc. Point is, your son needs

to get the stimulation he is seeking,,in this case, he probably is licking

because he needs oral stimulation. The behavior team probably feels chewing

on the tube is preferable to licking everything. Some of the things our SI

therapist also recommended for Gene was having a sport cup with a straw at

this desk all the time and available at home for him. Also, to have him us

an electric tooth brush...mainly these are good ways that serve a purpose for

him to keep that need filled. Chewing gum is another one.

Regarding the head banging, it doesn't seem from your note that they found a

good substitute for that. If this is a sensory issue, and it sounds like it

is, what purpose does it serve? Gene doesn't do this so I haven't looked into

it, but if he did, I may think he is trying to get more input to register or

he may be getting overstimmulated. A good SI therapist would probably have

some alternate suggestions for this that you could do so that he wouldn't

bang his head as much. Sorry I don't know what those are. Maybe you have

tried all this sensory stuff in the past, but for Gene and some other kids we

know, this stuff has really helped.

Lauri

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 6/2/00 12:05:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

Scherb@... writes:

<< The Behavior plan is to help JJ stop licking things and stop head banging.

They want him to, by 6/01, on cue chew his chew tube and not lick/head bang.

I can remember being told that chewing/flipping his " flippy thing " is not

good. His mind stops working when he is self-stimming like this? Has

anyone else heard this? Seems to me the school is just encouraging more

self-stim by replacing the unacceptable one with another more acceptable

one. >>

,

Well, I agree that stimming is a deterent to learning. Not because their

minds stop working, but rather they become so consumed with it, they aren't

interested in doing anything else. AT least that's exactly how it works with

Maddie. One of the reasons she will have a one on one in September (aside

from the fact that she's Tarzan and would be on the ceiling) is because she

would be content to dribble her ball in the corner 24/7. There's a fine

line between letting her have something so she feels safe and trying to

engage her. This is where floortime comes in for us (I know I know----you're

all probably SICK of hearing me preach about it). If it's done correctly, we

can keep Maddie from the balls for over an hour----and not because we're

making her......it's because she's intrigued with the person!! A MAJOR

feat!!! Just so you know, the tubing thing did not work for us. And I

refused to let them just take things from her----they have to work a little

harder and differently to engage her, but it works and she's comfortable.

IMO, a kid can't learn if they're not comfortable. Another thing that we do

when Maddie starts mouthing and you can't get her to stop is mouth massage.

We just reach in there and do some cheeks squeezes. Her SI therapist takes a

piece of paper towel (it makes holding the tongue easier) and shakes the

tongue back and forth. Naturally, you have to make a really fun game out of

it and do lots of funny sounds and giggling. Maddie actually sticks her

tongue out for pulls. WE also use our finger and rub it on the tongue. The

head banging concerns me too. I feel that head banging happens because a

child is frustrated or scared. Again, that's why Maddie does it. BTW, she

hasn't done it in ages.

Hope these suggestions help . Let us know how it goes.

Donna

[Guest guest]

From what I have learned in BM, it is important to figure out the meaning of

the behavior and then replace an unacceptable behavior with a more acceptable

one. The chew tube can be temporary until a less obtrusive idea comes to mind

or his needs change.

One thing that we have seen with Elie is that his stim object also has to do

with his sense of security. For example, some days he NEEDS one of his soft

babies to hold. Another day it might be his mirror to look behind. His newest

annoying one is having to bang the back of his hand on a solid object. Causes

him no pain but we hear the " thunp " and he is developing a callus on his third

knuckle of each hand.

We don't understand the need although the OT says that it is to help him feel

his body in relation to solid objects. If that is so, he used to be satisfied

with carrying an armload of " stuff " . Which is mor acceptable???

Sara

>>> Scherb@... - 06/02/0 1:03 AM >>>

Tomorrow is JJ's IEP--FINALLY!! The psych report got to me today along with

the Behavior Plan.

The Behavior plan is to help JJ stop licking things and stop head banging.

They want him to, by 6/01, on cue chew his chew tube and not lick/head bang.

I can remember being told that chewing/flipping his " flippy thing " is not

good. His mind stops working when he is self-stimming like this? Has

anyone else heard this? Seems to me the school is just encouraging more

self-stim by replacing the unacceptable one with another more acceptable

one.

& Garry, parents of (9 ds), (8 ds/g-tube), JJ (6

ds/autism/celiac), (5 ds), and Esther (3 ds). All adopted.

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[Guest guest]

Reuben has always had an infactuation with boots. (occupied or unoccupied!)

He will sometimes lick them. Never could understand that!

What is a chew tube? I've never heard of that.

ita

[Guest guest]

The risperdal hasn't done anything for the stimming (paper flipping,

shredding). He still goes through about 3 or 4 catalogs a week, page by pae

in perfect 1-1/2 inch strips and flips them until the become limp and goes

for another perfect strip.

[Guest guest]

no, his doctors say it is hard to really diagnos children that are mr etc,

with ADD HD, we have tried other meds all with horrible side effects, we have

found that ritilan is the only one to really have a calming and focusing

effect, it doesnt help the " in the shell world " but he is practically a

normal child while on it pays attenetion to his surroundings more and little

self sstim or headbanging. i suppose we just take whaat we can get, if its

not broke dont fix it. shawna.

[Guest guest]

for nathan's headbanging we just redirect him to another activity or find the

overstimulating object and stop it, we use to never even get to whtch tv or

listen to radio, the car was the worse, but with consistency and redirections

to a better safer activity he does it only on occasion anymore, never in the

car anymore thank god. hope this helps a little. shawna mom to nathan 8yrs

w/ds pdd and nicholas 7yrs and wife to geoff.

[Guest guest]

nathan grinds his teeth or bites himself when frustrated, we found anyways,

and headbangs and posture simulates when over stimulated, then self stims

with his puppets or shoe strings on occasion still but does it less every

year ive notice with our BM program. shawna, mom to nathan 8yrs w/ds pdd and

nicholas 7yrs.