Re: How should I handle my son's stimming (opening shutting doors/cabinets)?

[Guest guest]

Our son was a cabinet and any other door slammer for years, and I do mean hang on the doors and then slam them with all his might. He warped the hinges on the kitchen cabinets. So, we baby-locked all cabinets and drawers in the house - for his safety but mostly because he gave me migraines. We then gave him a couple of open and close toys like this box of doors: http://www.amazon.com/-%2526-Doug-Locks-Latches/dp/B00009ILYA .and a couple of hide and seek puzzles with doors like this one: http://www.amazon.com/-Doug-Magnetic-Farm-Hide/dp/B0000ZRHZG . We would let him stim on the box and puzzles some, mostly when we needed him to be safely occupied with something. But, when the therapists came and it was time

to work, we could hide the puzzles and control the stims. Also, having those toys made going to the doctor's office (and othe people's houses) much easier, since he had an acceptable "public stim" and I could keep him from slamming every door in the office. Big cardboard books also seem to fill that same open-and-shut need. The one other thing we did was take a huge cardboard box and make a little playhouse out of it - he could open and close that door to his heart's content and not make a sound. Yippee for me. Plus, he had a hiding place for when he got mad at me. I'd rather him hide than kick me! Now, after 3.5 years of complete door obsession, it's faded a good bit. He still has some "door OCD" in that every doorway we walk past must be shut or he usually gets unhappy. Also, he has a hard time leaving a set of automatic or swinging doors unless they are done

closing. This, too, is fading. No medicine, just lots of OT and his increasing maturity, I think. I try to humor this last bit of obsession in a no-big-deal way when possible, since it does give an opportunity for language - he has to tell me that the door is open, the door is closing, and then that the door is closed. As for spinning and flipping objects, he still flips or spins every new object once, but the urge really seems to have lessed with time. We got a set of heavy duty plastic coasters to keep with us at all times when he was really little, just so he'd have something safe to spin. Now that he's almost 5, he spins stuff at the playground that's supposed to be spun, and that seems to be enough most of the time. His main stim now is the "happy flappy dance" and we let him do it some as long as he doesn't add a crotch grab into his dance. That's just not cool in public... Good luck. How old is your son? - mom to Bobby, age 4.5, dx "mild" autism at age 2, very sensory-seeking, talking more and more every day, and can spell his name!

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[Guest guest]

Funny my son has a door fascination for it seems like ever and it has not lessened. He even likes the automatic ones and doors to elevators. We just taught him how and when to open a door (no slamming and doors to the outside of the house are not for play) and use it as a reward for say like good behavior on a shopping trip. We gave him all kinds of toys with doors or things that open but that dosen't seem to hold his fascination much. We have designated the closet doors in the house that he can play with. Harper wrote: Our son was a cabinet and any other door slammer for years, and I do mean hang on the doors and then slam them with all his might. He warped the hinges on the kitchen cabinets. So, we baby-locked all cabinets and drawers in the house - for his safety but mostly because he gave me migraines. We then gave him a couple of open and close toys like this box of doors: http://www.amazon.com/-%2526-Doug-Locks-Latches/dp/B00009ILYA .and a couple of hide and seek puzzles with doors like this one: http://www.amazon.com/-Doug-Magnetic-Farm-Hide/dp/B0000ZRHZG . We would let him stim on the box and puzzles some, mostly when

we needed him to be safely occupied with something. But, when the therapists came and it was time to work, we could hide the puzzles and control the stims. Also, having those toys made going to the doctor's office (and othe people's houses) much easier, since he had an acceptable "public stim" and I could keep him from slamming every door in the office. Big cardboard books also seem to fill that same open-and-shut need. The one other thing we did was take a huge cardboard box and make a little playhouse out of it - he could open and close that door to his heart's content and not make a sound. Yippee for me. Plus, he had a hiding place for when he got mad at me. I'd rather him hide than kick me! Now, after 3.5 years of complete door obsession, it's faded a good bit. He still has some "door OCD" in that every doorway we walk past must be shut or he usually gets

unhappy. Also, he has a hard time leaving a set of automatic or swinging doors unless they are done closing. This, too, is fading. No medicine, just lots of OT and his increasing maturity, I think. I try to humor this last bit of obsession in a no-big-deal way when possible, since it does give an opportunity for language - he has to tell me that the door is open, the door is closing, and then that the door is closed. As for spinning and flipping objects, he still flips or spins every new object once, but the urge really seems to have lessed with time. We got a set of heavy duty plastic coasters to keep with us at all times when he was really little, just so he'd have something safe to spin. Now that he's almost 5, he spins stuff at the playground that's supposed to be spun, and that seems to be enough most of the time. His main stim now is the "happy flappy dance" and we let him do it some as long as

he doesn't add a crotch grab into his dance. That's just not cool in public... Good luck. How old is your son? - mom to Bobby, age 4.5, dx "mild" autism at age 2, very sensory-seeking, talking more and more every day, and can spell his name! Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

[Guest guest]

I know that all of my son's therapists have always told me that if I

let him keep doing it then he won't be able to stop himself he will

hafto do it and it can get much worse. So stop it as soon as you can

before it is too hard to break.

>

> Dear Listmates,

> My son goes hog wild on cabinets and doors and loves to flip objects.

> I generally redirect him and am usually met with resistance. Is there

> a common school of thought about what to do? Should I never let

> stimming go forward? Are there times when I should turn a blind eye?

> My fear is that by allowing him to stim he will just become more

> entrenched in his own existence and shut out the world around him. Any

> help would be greatly appreciated.

>

[Guest guest]

My son does that with light switches, drives me nuts. He will keep doing it no matter what I say to him until I psychically remove him from access to the switch. He usually obssess over it, until I can get him dystracted with something else, which can be difficult at times.

To: autism-georgia From: alexhigdon9966@...Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 19:50:39 +0000Subject: How should I handle my son's stimming (opening shutting doors/cabinets)?

Dear Listmates,My son goes hog wild on cabinets and doors and loves to flip objects. I generally redirect him and am usually met with resistance. Is there a common school of thought about what to do? Should I never let stimming go forward? Are there times when I should turn a blind eye? My fear is that by allowing him to stim he will just become more entrenched in his own existence and shut out the world around him. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Make Windows Vista more reliable and secure with Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Learn more.