Sensory?

hi T.. i cant really say much about your son because i dont know him, but, i have a three year old son that DOES have a sensory+ other issues as well. he was late as a baby starting the "exsploring textures with his mouth", and still does this to this day! i figure he will one day stop on his own once he gets what ever kids get out of that. of course i think all kids, (and adults put things in there mouths all there lives at different times, (such as pencils, pens, erasers, etc.) unless you feel real conern about this and of maybe what your son puts in his mouth, there are specialists for this. you can talk to your sons pediatrician about possibly getting a referal to an "occupational thereapist". my son has had one since around 1-1 and a half. good luck!

yes it is my sons 4 and does the same thing and he goes to the rehab for occupational theapy maybe you can try that

Take him to an occupational therapist for an evlauation. If it does not cause him issues, they may not see a need to do anything, if it does, they can help you sort them out with therapy.

M.

Definitely could be seeking sensory input. Ask your doctor to refer you to an occupational therapist who specializes with sensory processing disorder to have him evaluated.

Another possibility, and I do not know how valid it is, but I've heard that it can be a symptom of mineral deficency, possibly zinc. Maybe you can try giving him a high quality multi-vitamin that has zinc in it and see how he responds. You may not see an immediate change in this behavior but, as the zinc levels build up in his system again, you'll hopefully be seeing less and less of this behavior as time goes on.

Hope this helps.

My son is 8 and does the same thing. He has Aspergers so we have a lot of sensory issues, toys in the mouth is just one of them. OT is the best help we have found for the sensory issues. Unfortunately my son will get better in one area and then pick up a new "habit" that we have to address but the OT does help. My son also chews the erasers off of his pencils, does yours do that? He'll chew the eraser, the metal ring and right down into the wood if I don't catch it.

Good luck,
K.

Hi, T.:

It could be for attention.
Let him do it without saying anything and see what happens.
Good luck. D.

I'm 31 and still do (put just about everything in my mouth, for sensory reasons), more or less. Of course, I'm sneaky about it.

Either super sneaky ((my mouth is rarely still... my jaw clenches to greater and lesser strengths, running my tongue along itself, my teeth, the curves in my lips, etc... small movements that most people would never notice)), blatantly sneaky ((I cook, and so I'm tasting and snitching all the time)), hedonistically sneaky (( running fabric over my lips, feeling the cool cold edges of a glass bottle and intentionally clinking it against my teeth and playing with it with my lips or the tip of my tongue; breathing with my mouth just slightly open when I'm near something so that I can taste the scent of it; lingering over things that are "allowed" in one's mouth... from swirling fine wine to spagettios)), bad-mom sneaky ((cigars, cigarettes, pen caps)), I really need a 3rd hand sneaky ((I'll stick almost anything in my mouth when my hands are full... truth be told I could just wait 3 seconds and have a spare hand... but my mouth is convenient, and it serves 2 purposes... the 3rd hand and taste/texture/temp)).

Some might say oral fixation, but I'm adhd... it's part of the sensory schtuff that goes along with it. I do other things equally, well... bizarre maybe, with most of my body... and they're all sensory seeking. From walking in (at last count) 14 different and distinct ways, to how I sit, to how I stretch my hands, what clothes I wear, sheets I sleep in, breaths I take. The vast majority of which have been carefully calculated to be next to invisible. As in other people don't notice. But it's taken years. Decades to be precise. How to constantly be getting my sensory "fix" without looking "weird".

Everyone with adhd has sensory stuff. (But not everyone with sensory stuff is adhd, squares & rectangles.) One of the reasons that people used to think we grew out of adhd is that we learn how to be covert. We're still doing highly age inappropriate things... we just figure out ways not to call attention to it.

So the only piece of advice I can really give, is to give him a challenge: figure out a way to get the fix without looking __________ (strange, weird, creepy, whatever... fill in the blank).

But yeah. Just about everything has been in my mouth. Upside? Killer immune system.