Saliva Issues

Post Reply New Topic

My son has several issues with saliva that I was hoping you all could maybe give me some insight...

Every since he was little, my son has seemed to have an excess of saliva, he drooled a lot as a baby/toddler even when not teething. He currently does and always has blow bubbles with his saliva (a stim now, I suspect). He has also recently started to spit in his hands and play with it between his fingers (another stim?). He will rub it on his face and body and this can lead to a crusty rash around his mouth. He will also sometimes wipe it on other people or things. He does not spit on people or things - the only "inappropriate" spitting is directly into his hands. Also, when he is concentrating, he tends to not swallow his saliva without prompting...He doesn't drool very often anymore, but he will slurp it back into his mouth, sometimes he will drool if he is really into something. Not sure if this could be related or not, but I will throw it out there...He does have low muscle tone.

I asked the OT at school about this and she had the SLP come talk with me (J does NOT get speech - didn't qualify). The SLP had evaluated him in the past and she didn't see any oral motor issues...But at the same time, she missed the speech issues he has :-/

We're having somewhat of a tough time with the school as they don't see the Asperger's stuff. They only will acknowledge the fine and gross motor issues and somewhat the sensory issues. He isn't in school yet, just got a few sessions of PT and OT before school let out for the summer. Will start kindergarten in the fall

Any insight from anyone? Does most of this spit stuff sound like stims? Any advice for the not swallowing without prompts?

Thanks!!

DS did this some too. It grossed me out to the point that I had to put my foot down about it. Any time I caught him playing with his spit in his mouth I reminded him to stop it. Of course he would actually spit on other people when he got upset and that really needed to stop. I thought the director at the school was going to send him home and not let him come back one day becasue he spit a big one on her .

I don't know if "stim" is the right word so much as oral sensory seeking behavior. DS learned to whistle and that kind of stopped the spit thing. I have also been thinking about chewlery or something similar. I don't know if that would help you or just make the drooling problem worse. Mine will be starting K in the fall too and I have been thinking that an appropriate object to chew on might help the anxiety and sensory overload.