Guest guest Posted September 30, 2001 Report Share Posted September 30, 2001 > Hi, all !! > > Just some info on the sucking/chewing issue with our kids... > My son goes through phases of chewing his shirts to pieces and various > speech therapists have told me it is due to him needing certain > propreceptive input to his jaws. The propreoceptive messages are very > calming and " centering " to the nervous system and of course, this is what > they desperately need. Sometimes I need focus, and if that is what you mean by " centering to the nervous system " , then okay. Otherwise, it sounds rather hokey to me to be phrased this way, sort of like the " you are the center of the universe " philosophy, which I do not believe altho you might. " this is what they desperately need " sounds like too much of an over-generalization. Not all AS children are the same, and I hate when therapists and others would think that they are. Perhaps your child needs it, but not all do. When I need mental focus, I will use something physical to attract my attention and allow me to block out the extraneous stuff and give myself some focus. It does not have to be my mouth tho, and in fact other areas of my body are more effective than my mouth. But then your child may be oral/mouth oriented now, so perhaps for him that is the most effective place. > We do deep pressure oral massage to his chin and jaws with great success. > If I see him chewing things I will apply pressure to his cheek bones and > chin as well as gums. (Took us a long time to get to work inside his > mouth.. very sensitive!!) I think this would be very helpful for a child who needs to suck/chew. You can also teach your child to do these things, or similar things, for himself. > I also ordered special " chewie tubes " from KineticKids.com for him to use > instead of his shirt. The tube gives him input further back in his mouth > where he is really trying to get his shirt !! The back teeth and back of the mouth are very good for pressure if your child has ear issues like lots of infections in his past. Plus it is a great stress reliever, so some kids need this input to relieve stress from their day and all the therapies and the way other people treat them. Or it may be the best place for obtaining the mental focus, as I indicated earlier. My son does not chew for these reasons, it is obvious when he chews, that he is regressed to the oral stage, because he mouths and chews just for the sake of mouthing and chewing, and I know to look for a " bad food " . Your child may be different. But I disagree strongly with the use of a " chew tube " . I think it is treating a child like a dog, which I believe contributes to the notion of autistic individuals as lesser human beings. Plus later in life you will want to remove the tube, and why introduce something now and encourage its use, when you will later try to discourage it? That sounds very frustrating to me. Why not introduce something now that the child can continue with? Why worry about a child who sucks on a blanket or whatever, because that is a more NT behavior? Why single out your child with a chew tube? But if you think a chew tube is appropriate for your child, then you know your own child best. Dana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2001 Report Share Posted September 30, 2001 > Hi, all !! > > Just some info on the sucking/chewing issue with our kids... > My son goes through phases of chewing his shirts to pieces and various > speech therapists have told me it is due to him needing certain > propreceptive input to his jaws. The propreoceptive messages are very > calming and " centering " to the nervous system and of course, this is what > they desperately need. Sometimes I need focus, and if that is what you mean by " centering to the nervous system " , then okay. Otherwise, it sounds rather hokey to me to be phrased this way, sort of like the " you are the center of the universe " philosophy, which I do not believe altho you might. " this is what they desperately need " sounds like too much of an over-generalization. Not all AS children are the same, and I hate when therapists and others would think that they are. Perhaps your child needs it, but not all do. When I need mental focus, I will use something physical to attract my attention and allow me to block out the extraneous stuff and give myself some focus. It does not have to be my mouth tho, and in fact other areas of my body are more effective than my mouth. But then your child may be oral/mouth oriented now, so perhaps for him that is the most effective place. > We do deep pressure oral massage to his chin and jaws with great success. > If I see him chewing things I will apply pressure to his cheek bones and > chin as well as gums. (Took us a long time to get to work inside his > mouth.. very sensitive!!) I think this would be very helpful for a child who needs to suck/chew. You can also teach your child to do these things, or similar things, for himself. > I also ordered special " chewie tubes " from KineticKids.com for him to use > instead of his shirt. The tube gives him input further back in his mouth > where he is really trying to get his shirt !! The back teeth and back of the mouth are very good for pressure if your child has ear issues like lots of infections in his past. Plus it is a great stress reliever, so some kids need this input to relieve stress from their day and all the therapies and the way other people treat them. Or it may be the best place for obtaining the mental focus, as I indicated earlier. My son does not chew for these reasons, it is obvious when he chews, that he is regressed to the oral stage, because he mouths and chews just for the sake of mouthing and chewing, and I know to look for a " bad food " . Your child may be different. But I disagree strongly with the use of a " chew tube " . I think it is treating a child like a dog, which I believe contributes to the notion of autistic individuals as lesser human beings. Plus later in life you will want to remove the tube, and why introduce something now and encourage its use, when you will later try to discourage it? That sounds very frustrating to me. Why not introduce something now that the child can continue with? Why worry about a child who sucks on a blanket or whatever, because that is a more NT behavior? Why single out your child with a chew tube? But if you think a chew tube is appropriate for your child, then you know your own child best. Dana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2001 Report Share Posted September 30, 2001 I think that part of the reason for chewing, from what little I know about sensory integration dysfunction, is that the chewing helps to stimulate the vestibular sense. Try moving your jaws now, and you'll feel slight pressure changes in your ear. I know that kids who cover and uncover their ears are doing it to increase the vestibular sensation, and I think it is also similar with chewing needs. So what to do? I don't know... ask an Occ. Therapist. My guess would be to give them some vestibular input-- swinging, helping them jump... get their body moving and see if that helps. W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2001 Report Share Posted September 30, 2001 I think that part of the reason for chewing, from what little I know about sensory integration dysfunction, is that the chewing helps to stimulate the vestibular sense. Try moving your jaws now, and you'll feel slight pressure changes in your ear. I know that kids who cover and uncover their ears are doing it to increase the vestibular sensation, and I think it is also similar with chewing needs. So what to do? I don't know... ask an Occ. Therapist. My guess would be to give them some vestibular input-- swinging, helping them jump... get their body moving and see if that helps. W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2001 Report Share Posted September 30, 2001 This comes up periodically on the SID group. I chew to " organize my nervous system " or to provide counterpressure to the pain in my head. We get bad headpain and " anxiety " which seems to be relieved by the chewing. My older son would chew his clothes to bits. I give him gum and hard candy to suck on. When younger I would give him a toothbrush. He also chewed straws and such. Someone on the SID board said chewing is " heavy work " and satisfies the same needs as doing heavy work for some people. I have noticed if I go mow the lawn or vacuum (heavy work) this does seem to satisfy that chewing need as well. This may be a something to try in addition to the other suggestions. The meds/dietary changes/enzymes have greatly reduced this. I know my son or I am " reacting " to something when we get the " chewies. " . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2001 Report Share Posted September 30, 2001 This comes up periodically on the SID group. I chew to " organize my nervous system " or to provide counterpressure to the pain in my head. We get bad headpain and " anxiety " which seems to be relieved by the chewing. My older son would chew his clothes to bits. I give him gum and hard candy to suck on. When younger I would give him a toothbrush. He also chewed straws and such. Someone on the SID board said chewing is " heavy work " and satisfies the same needs as doing heavy work for some people. I have noticed if I go mow the lawn or vacuum (heavy work) this does seem to satisfy that chewing need as well. This may be a something to try in addition to the other suggestions. The meds/dietary changes/enzymes have greatly reduced this. I know my son or I am " reacting " to something when we get the " chewies. " . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2001 Report Share Posted September 30, 2001 > Dana, > > I belong to a local (for me) Autism list as well as this one and on this > other list is a 30-something yr old autistic man who I think would disagree > with some of what you said in your response to Lora. This is a good example of people being individuals and disagreeing. Not all AS are the same. He has posted several > messages to our list in response to " chewing " issues from parents as he > himself is a " chewer " and his insights are quite interesting. Then he is apparently helpful for you, that is good. He still uses > a " chewie " when he needs to. This man has authored several books and is a > frequent guest speaker at Autism conferences. I have been asked by several people to write a book, but I decided to establish an internet website instead, I hate the idea of people paying for information needed to help themselves and/or their children, plus I like the ability to update whenever I learn new things. I speak at local support groups occasionally, but not too much, because my social skills are not very good unless I am in a structured environment, or in court [i am an attorney]. However, if your comment here is intended to convey the idea that an author and speaker would have an opinion more worthy of consideration than mine or than any other person on this list, then I will disagree with that. I believe every person's opinion is valid and worthy of consideration, and noone's opinion is more or less valuable than any other person's opinion. I don't think he considers > himself a " dog " and I am pretty sure that Lora does not feel that she is > treating her child like one either. Probably not, but I would see it differently, if I saw a parent giving their child a chew tube, I would first think that parent was treating their child like a dog, and then I would have to mentally correct myself, but I do not know that other people in society would make that correction, perhaps believing that even the child's own parent considers him to be a lesser human. But then each parent and person is entitled to his/her own opinions. I will give my opinion, and other people will give their opinions, and then each person will make their own decisions. If you disagree with my opinion, then please disregard it. But just know that some people do have the opinion that I have. I think your insights and information > are invaluable to this list and I am always interested in reading your > posts. But I do think that as you said very clearly, all our children are > different. And all of our experiences and much of our info is different and > that's why it is nice to be on lists like this. Gather information that you > think will be useful to you or your child. Not all of it is, and not all of > us feel the same way about things. I think we have to try to be careful > about the tone of our posts, even when we don't share the same opinion or > experience. I am as careful as I can be about the tone of my posts. But I am autistic, and my social skills are bad even on a good day. If the tone of my post sounds negative, then you can just know that I did not intend it to be that way. Perhaps if I sound inflammatory, you can read my messages again and try to make it sound objective, and see if that helps you understand my tone as I typed it. I always try to be helpful, I try to give ONE parent's opinion, or ONE autistic person's opinion, but it is not the ONLY parent opinion, or the ONLY autistic person's opinion. Many people agree with me, many don't. But I do the best I can, and if it bothers you that my social skills are bad, then I would definitely suggest that you don't read my posts, because I appear to learn social things VERY slowly if at all, so I know most of my replies will say something or sound in some way offensive for at least one person. I do not recall that I said that I thought Lora personally was treating her child like a dog, this is what I wrote -- >>But I disagree strongly with the use of a " chew tube " . I think it is treating a child like a dog, which I believe contributes to the notion of autistic individuals as lesser human beings. To me, this is a statement of my opinion. Actually I did try very hard to make it NOT sound like an accusation at all, just a general observation of my opinion. I tried not to accuse anyone of anything, I guess I failed on that account. But I am open to suggestions, if you have other wording I could have used that would have stated my opinion without sounding like an accusation, which apparently it did even tho I have no idea how. If you have another recommended way of phrasing it, I would like to learn a new social nuance. Dana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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