Touch/Feeling Problems

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I know this sounds crazy, but my 12-year old son with Aspergers is extremely phobic about anything that he calls "sticky", meaning ice cream, sweets, jelly, the juice from an apple, you name it. He says it all started when I took him on a boat ride over a year ago. Afterwards, we got some ice cream, the soft serve kind that goes on a cone. Some dripped on his hand. That changed everything. Now his room is like a "clean room". He's worried that his computer keyboard might be sticky. Sometimes we have regular intervals of cleaning with alchohol to get rid of the sticky feeling for him. My 3-year old loves to eat an apple and see what the other is up to. The oncoming apple, or "sticky item" leads to a panic attack for the older kid. "Get him away from me. Mom!! He has an apple".

When he plays video games with his friends, sometimes every round he has to stop and wash his hands. The plastic nobs feel "sticky". Can you believe it? A kid who won't eat ice cream or candy? I don't have to worry about my kid eating too many sweets. Yogurt's OK, by the way. He doesn't like to brush his teeth either. He thinks the toothpaste is too "sticky".

Any suggestions?

I have that problem. I hate anything sticky- and I am constantly washing my hands. You should just explain to him that he needs to brush his teeth, lol!! Toothpaste really isn't sticky. Maybe they have less sticky kinds.
My nephew who is NT has a problem with sticky things- he will always wash his hands before he touches his game controllers or keyboard.
so it must be a semi normal thing.

Hope he grows out of it?

It seems like certain sensory issues come and go with my son. When they are strong, they need to be honored, but as they weaken he can often be talked into actively working against them, and that is a period to try and take advantage of.

Keep communication open and nudge but don't push.

I wish I could offer more.

Did you ever see the movie, "The Aviator"? Howard Hughes hated "germs." Did you see how the "germs" controlled him? This is exactly what is happening with my son. Everything seems to come to a standstill. His attention goes to the "sticky" object. Everything else fades into a blur. It controls him. It's very problematic. Ok, let's backup.

First question: Does this sound like Aspergers?

My son is 6 1/2 and also hates anything sticky. Band-aids, stickers and tape all get him nearly panicked, as well as having anything sticky on his hands. He's made some progress and will use glue at school, provided he doesn't have to touch it, and he knows he'll be allowed to wash his hands immediately if some gets on him. He also won't eat ice cream or any candy but Smarties!

I just let him do what he needs to do. Wash when he needs to wash, and find alternatives for the necessary things. (For us, glue sticks instead of bottled glue, and bandages with a cloth wrap instead of Band-aids.) If pushed, he'll meltdown, and I don't want to force something that's a phobia on him. That would be like forcing ME to let bugs crawl on my hands or something. Ew!

It sounds more like an OCD tendency to me. How about buying him his own little bottle of purell or some baby wipes for his room? It might let him feel free to get a little more sticky if he knows that he only has to reach over 3 inches and grab a wipe. It MIGHT possibly give him a better feel of control that if he gets sticky he can take care of it himself.

THOUGH (WARNING HERE), It might be an enabler, and he might go crazy trying to wipe everything down. Then you might have to limit his box of wipe/bottle of purell to only one per x amount of time.

Well, as as kid with the same kinda thing, I know what it feels like. However, I took meds for OCD and I make sure I can wash my hands as soon as I can, I just hate the nasty feeling of stickiness.

The key to differentiating whether this is an OCD fear or an AS sensory issue is asking your son why he hates being sticky. Is he afraid that being sticky is germy or will lead to some unforeseen circumstance? If so, that is more OCD-related. However, if he just cannot tolerate the feeling of being sticky and will try to avoid it at all costs, that is AS. I have both OCD and AS; it can be tricky to know which disorder the symptoms come from.
-OddDuckNash99-

OK, so we have "seek alternatives", like eating Smarties, don't force them, nudge, don't push, hand gel so he can clean his hands himself, making him more in control. I like that one. Self remedy. They need to be taught how to cope themselves. I asked him about the stickiness, and does it make him feel germy or worse, and he replied that he would rather be ill than sticky. How's that for an Asperger answer? He took what I asked and gave me the same words back as an answer. Well it got me to stop feeling sorry for him for the time being.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/echolalia

I have a similar problem, except I dislike slippery things. I.E, trying to grab a bar of soap. For that reason I despise those blow dryers they have in some restrooms. They never get your hands completely dry, so there is a bit of water still on them. Then whenever you go to touch something your fingers slide and it just feels really bad.

Anyways, have you tried getting him gloves? You dont want to get the knit wool ones, those will just soak up the sticky liquid, and good luck trying to get ice cream or anything else out of them. Try going for something like the baseball batting gloves.

A 10 second search on Google turns up this:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... gMethod=rr

Just go to any sporting store, and look for the baseball batting gloves, then find one that matches your son's hand size. Make sure to get the ones that have a non-permeable surface.

It might be a good idea to get more then 1 pair, so you can rotate them out and wash them. It might look a bit weird to wear gloves to school, but as long as you dont make a big deal out of it at home he should be fine there. And of course if his classmates dont zero in and pick on weirdness then he can wear them at school to.

Of course it should go without saying to get your son's OK on this, and make sure he approves the gloves you get. Forcing him to wear gloves if he doesnt like the way they feel wont help the issue.

my daughter doesn't like sticky things, but includes items like hand gel & lotions in that category

I have that - its really uncomfortable. IN the mornign when i put hair gel into my hair it takes about 5 mins

Put it in, turn on tap, wash, turn off tap.

But then i've got some on my hand form touching the tap...


In short, the stickiness is unclean and it makes everything, germs, crap stick to your hands (shivers)..

Perhaps this may pass in good time?

My DS (4) hates anything on his hands... sand, sticky, texta, dirt, stamps, paint you name it!

At his pre school, at the end of the class, the kids must wait to be called then go to the teacher and get a stamp on their hand before running to the parent... DS hates them! Without fail, will run to me as soon as he sees me, then I have to guide him to sit back down. The teacher then calls him for his stamp and he immediately rubs it off onto the carpet. I then have to take him into the bathroom to wash it off.
Only in the past week he has been happy to go and get his stamp. I think now that he realises that it's not all that bad, and wont hurt him, he's happy to comply

Good luck with it.

you might want to try and get him to brush his teeth with baking soda it will clean his teeth and is in noway sticky. It tastes realy bad but giving the choice he might go for it.

That exactly.