Behavior training for sensory issues...

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Hi all, I haven't been here for a while but I have a 4.5 year old daughter who has sensory issues (and many other issues but this post is about the sensory). At the moment we're THIS close to a diagnosis of something like Aspergers (although because of her age the social issues, while there are several indicators orf social issues, they aren't yet clear because of lack of social experience and so the Dr is reluctant to call it aspergers, she keeps saying PDD but I know that's an umbrella so i'm not sure how it will be defined, we'll know more on the 19th at our 3rd and final evaluation appt, the Dr will be referring us to a PDD clinic after that which does therapy for kids with these issues)

Anyhow one of the things the Dr wants us to start right away is, I think she called it behavioral training or something WRT DD putting everything in her mouth. She gave us 2 ideas which were 1, giving her things that are ok to chew and 2, having a chart and having punishments and rewards for chewing to try and train her out of it.

It's not something i'm willing to go all out punishing her for (I know it's a stima nd I understand they shouldn't be punished for stims) and it's not something that I want to totally train her out of, if she needs to do it, she can do it! But I want to teach her to do it in a more healthy way. So we are going to do a combination, have a bowl of toys that lives on the bench (counter top) that she can chew and put back and then do a rewards chart so that if she only chews the allowed things and nothing not allowed for the whole day she gets a star.

Anyway, I have an old rattle and an old teething toy from when my kids were babies (youngest is 2 oldest 4 so they aren't ancient toys lol) which i'm going to clean and start the 'allowed' collection with, i'm going to go to target or walmart and get some assorted teething toys of different textures etc. to add to the collection so she has variety... i'm kind of stuck on what to include since I want to give her a lot of variety so she doesn't get bored with the allowed things and start on the not allowed again, but they also have to be safe for her to have in her mouth. I looked around and throught heir toys but couldn't find much that I was comfortable with using for this purpose.

Does anyone have any other ideas/suggestions?

When my son was this age he loved to chew his banket. Maybe a soft washcloth could go in the mix <bouse you can toss it in the washer to clean it>. They also make chewwies kids can wear around their necks this might be help to have when she's out of the home so she always has something safe to chew close by.

Thanks so much CRD! I actually thought of a washcloth after I posted this, we've had a problem with her chewing up foam from chairs so I definitely think a washcloth would be great!

I'll have a look for the chewwies as well, that's a really good idea.

Why DO they love to chew fabric at that age? My son chewed out his sleeves for years.

I would put a few straws in there ... as she gets older, that becomes one of the few socially acceptable and relatively safe things available to chew. My son is 12 and still frequently chews straws. And pencil tops .... sigh ... never quite broke him of that one.

I think redirection is the way to go here. I like your idea. Good luck!

Thanks DW! Straws are a great idea, she still can't have crayons or pencils of any sort because they always get chewed, hopefully as she gets older she'll learn to chew the END of the pencil rather than the tip

I never got the fabric thing ethier but my doctor told us not to worry about it because it cleaned his teeth not bad when he would put anything in his mouth but a toothbrush or a veg. Now he enjoys a spinbrush you might want to try one of those as well if she likes to put moving toys in her month much safer then a toy car.

Thanks CRD, luckily she doesn't put moving things in her mouth (good thing!) so that's not an issue.

Wanted to tell you DW_a_mom that straws was absolutely THE best suggestion! Whenever she goes to chew things now, i hear her say "STOP!" to stop herself and offer her a straw and she chews on that, we have seen huge improvement! She had a problem of nail biting, major major problem, so she asked for a ring that said STOP on it so it would remind her, I told her a bracelet might be more practical and she agreed so we've ordered letter beads and we'll be making a stop bracelet for her (wonder how long it will take for that to get chewed haha!)

She will sometimes use the other things (teething toys and washcloth) but straws are the #1 which is perfect! So thanks again!