chewing on small objects

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i have been trying to help my son break the habit of picking up random small objects and chewing them, such as pen caps, small toys.....anything really. he started doing this with the collar of his shirt when he was younger, i didn't worry so much because he couldn't choke on it, he always had a wet shirt though. my son is 14 now, and it is a little harder to watch him all the time, he attends general education classes at school, even many honors classes, with one period to help with his social skills. my point is, i can't watch him all time like a small child where you have to be very vigilant that they might put something in their mouth, and most teachers for his age group probably aren't looking out for that. last year, he found the cap of a flash drive at school and decided to chew it, started choking, and the teacher had to perform the heimlich maneuver on him, in front of the class, he wasn't hurt, but very embarrassed and crying and upset. he's had a lot of trouble adjusting to middle school and has no friends, so the incident just made it harder on him. i'm having to constantly tell him take that out on your mouth, it's not clean, or i don't want you to choke. i think he does this to relieve tension, maybe he's nervous, or just bored. anyway, i know this is a little long, but if anyone else has had any experience with this i'd love to have your input.

Has he tried using something which is safer, and maybe less socially "odd" to chew? Or is he compelled just to chew on whatever is to hand?

My son is 7 and we've been through the shirt chewing phase. I still have to take small objects from his mouth, but he generally chews larger objects so there's no risk of choking.

I've seen other people mention that chewing on drinking straws can help, or having some kind of tough rubber chewy which you could attach to a belt so it's always there and can't get lost. He's a bit older though, so maybe one of those tough novelty rubber things you can attach to the end of a pen or pencil would be better. It wouldn't look just so strange, and loads of people chew the ends of pens when they're concentrating.

he mostly chews on whatever he finds, i guess the pen cap wasn't the best example, a lot of people chew on that, but it's that he would just chew on the cap and put the whole cap in his mouth. i've caught him chewing all kinds of things, paper clips, part of necklaces, beads, just about anything small. i've never thought of straws, maybe that would work at home, i'm not sure about school. thank you so much for your reply!

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I did this as a child; it was part of the pica thing i wrote about in Food Issues (by hector).

Nobody knew what I did, and thankfully I never swallowed anything. I liked the texture of some of these objects, and unless I chewed enough to swallow, these objects would never dissolve. so they would stay the same, and when I got tired of them, I would take them out and put them away for later.

I eventually grew out of this strange habit, and as I stated earlier, no one knew about it.

My mother gave me a baby chew toy-- the things you put in the fridge for when they are teething? I would suggest something like this that is "safe" to chew on that can be carried around with no risk of choking. It doesn't have to be a baby toy.

Have you tried something like gum, or maybe jaw breakers? That might help him out.

As a child I like mouthing things. I have a daughter who at 32 still chews on stuff. I would not try to break him of the habit. Fussing with him about it only increases his stress. What I did do for my daughter was buy large rubber beads like they have for special ed lacing projects and give them to her. Even if she did swallow them, the oval shape should not get stuck. If it does get stuck, there's the large stringing hole to let in air.

Its a sensory thing. My sons OT sugested chew toys for my son. You can buy necklaces, bracelets or even lanyards with a chewy thing on the end of them that dont look too bad. Or the other thing she suggested was gum or ice cubes. This habit comes and goes with my 10 year old, its not as obvious in him as it is in other kids I've met. However my son ends up with lots of mouth ulcers now, which I believe is because he keeps sticking all sorts of stuff in his mouth.

I still chew stuff today, its relaxing.

I'm with the rest: give him something appropriate to chew so that he won't be grabbing for things around him.

My son is 12 and still very much a chewer. The errasers and metal caps on pencils are, unfortunately, a favorite (I worry about all that metal he must be swallowing). Straws work quite well, as do carrots. He needs to chew to think.

Some schools will bend the no-gum rule for AS kids, but my son's teachers have been concerned that will make him stand out. So, it's pencil tops and straws. He has, fortunately, mostly grown out of chewing his clothes.

i wanted to thank everyone so much for all the ideas and thoughts, they are really helpful. i really don't want to be nagging him or causing him to stress out more. i remember he used to chew his fingernails and the tips of his fingers until he would form callouses, but thankfully he doesn't do that anymore. i'm going to ask him what he thinks and ask him to try some of these suggestions, maybe we can figure out what he thinks will work best. i might get a "whatever, mom", i've been getting a lot of those lately , but i think that has less to do with asperger's and more to do with being a teenager, as two of his siblings, at 15 and almost 12, seem to feel the same about my advice too! i wanted to add that it is very nice, all of the support, it is really new for me to meet so many people willing to give their experience and input.

My daughter does this too. She is a little younger so it's not the same kind of issue since she's not in school yet...but if you look on OT and therapy sites they actually make safe chewies that are pencil caps. They look a little like erasers so they aren't too conspicuous. You would have to see if that texture is helpful to him. My daughter prefers metal (all I can think is OUCH! but that's what she loves to chew for some reason) so those kind of chewies wouldn't work for her, but I've always thought it was a good idea. Maybe it will work for you!

I myself enjoy chewing which explains my beef jerky I carry around its relaxing during some awkward times

I like to chew on things alot too, such as pen caps and such.I have done that alot in school, and in my younger years, I practically chewed on anything I got my hands on.

i always chew stuff (bottle caps mostly) my mom yells at me for it but i dont care, its a habit.one i dont intend to break.

I've struggled my whole life with chewing my hands (not nails, but near nails).

At least small objects don't damage the skin and look ugly even when he's not doing it.

It's a hard to break an oral fixation. It drove my HS friends and parents nuts ... "Stop your biting XXXX."

I would see if you can get him to chew gum. Or just pen caps.

Just be careful with the pens ... I had one blow up in my mouth once ... not painful, but awfully messy.