The last chance at shirt chewing...

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My girlfriend's son (Billy, 10 yr old aspie) is costing us well into the triple digits each for new shirts every month. He chews and ruins his shirts, after one time of wearing them. Yes, I know, this is stress relief, but we can no longer afford it.

So today, I made a deal with him. We are going to take some of his and mine old shirts and make "chewy cloth" for him, the collars and such of ruined shirts (I recently lost a lot of weight and therefor have a lot of old shirts). If he can chew on these for stress relief rather than ruining his shirts, we won't start spraying "bitter apple spray" on his collars.

We simply can't afford to spend $300 per month combined on shirts for him! I know, bitter apple spray may be cruel, but we need to find a solution.

Have any others of you successfully dealt with this problem in the past?

the best thing is to get him to chew someting else so the old shirts for a chew cloth is a good idea but maybe for whe he's out and about or school you can get a wrist band for him like the tennis bands
sweat bands i call them lol its alot cheaper than buying new shirts and its something discreet to chew on an quite durable

What you are doing sound fairly resonable. My only suggestion would to make the transition to something other than shirts. Maybe he like the techture but damp cloth doesn't have a great taste. maybe somehting with another taste, tecture, and chewiness that he likes.

I never been a gum fan, although recently I have used it for something to chew on, as wel as brush my teeth when i have no facilities.

I have to admit I chew ice cubes on occation (I have strong teeth).

Because bitter apple is sold for pets, they seem to be exempt from listing the formulation. I sure it is fine but it would good to know what is in it. There are different ones for different pets, I would avoid the horse one for now.

There are lot of biters, and astringents that are safe to use.

*Edit* it is made of isopropanol+water which is used as rubbing alcohol, but not the usual ethanol or ethanol-methanol mixes. It is not dangerous so long as he doesn't have too much of it.

Jimbeaux,

Is he chewing at school? Is school helping to work on this? If he is chewing on his shirts at school, school should be helping to work on this, and a BIP could be developed. There should be continuity between how it is handled at home and at school.

Using old shirts sounds like a great idea for the short term, and possibly even longer term for use "in private." But something that is less conspicuous is going to be important for him to meet his sensory needs (if that's what is driving this) or anxiety release (if that's what it is) on an ongoing basis. Some sped teachers have "gum chewing breaks" for kids to get the oral sensory input they need - for five minutes, once or twice during the morning, the kids chew gum! That helps some kids not need to chew on things. Other kids use chew tips on the backs of their pens or pencils - some OT/sensory catalogs have products specifically for this purpose. If the issue is more of an anxiety issue, maybe Billy can switch from oral expression to something else, like using a fidget (squeeze balls or koosh balls can be very effective).

It's great that you are working to solve the problem while still honoring his need to chew.

0=T, I tried it out on myself first. It is nasty, but harmless. The brand I am using is Foey. All natural. But hopefully we won't get to the point of having to use it.

I have seen (can't remember where) chewy tips that can be put on top of pencils. Do you think that would work? Does he need to chew cloth or can his need to chew be satisfied with something more durable like maybe one of those rubber "Armstrong" bracelets?

Thankfully, my son eventually seemed to simply outgrow the shirt chewing phase. He still does an amazing job on pencils, however, and we give him straws as the chew item of our choice.

I think you are showing a fair amount of flexibility here so hopefully you and the child can work out viable solutions. Sometimes you do have to say, "sorry, just can't do that one any more." Since you are working on alternatives, I think you will be able to get there. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

My son is a chewer as well. Chewing is not generally something you can make them stop doing, you need to find appropriate methods to release their oral seeking needs. It can really help with focus at school and home as well. Your son's school should allow kids with this chewing need to chew gum in class, have you tried that? I have a web link for the best chewing necklace I've found so far, but this site won't let me post it here as this is only my 4th post (only URLs after 5 posts are allowed). If you're interested let me know and I'll send you the link.

There's also chewlery bracelets if your son doesn't want to wear a necklace, although lots of NT boys do.

The pencil topper chewers can backfire - my son was so tempted to chew on them that he couldn't get his work done - hard to chew on your pencil and write with it simultaneously

My son recently started chewing his shirts...to the point that they would be soaking wet within a matter of a few minutes. I told his OT and she got him a chew tube. It clips on to his shirt and he chews that and not his shirts. I know that they have them online to buy but they are also fairly easy to make. If you give me your email address I can email you a picture to see how to make one.

Just FYI, chewy necklaces can be a bit of a social issue when a boy is 10, which is why we haven't chosen that route. It really depends on the environment your child is, and how comfortable they are defending themselves. The advantage to straws is that they don't jump out as "different." Gum is similar, but allowing one child to chew when others may not can create social akwardness. My son actually chews his tongue now, because that is more subtle. It ALL gets tricky with mainstreamed odler kids - they do start to want to fit in just a little. Hm, maybe that is why my son "outgrew" his chewing on clothing (albeit not chewing in general)? Hopefully, they all do.

It definitely does depend on your child's environment. 10 year old boys commonly wear neclaces where I am, so it's not a social issue for my son. In fact, he's had boys ask him where to get the one he has Always lots of trial and error with these therapeutic approaches.

Every day I read one more thing that makes me think - Me Too! on this site.

This is one of them. LOL We have this problem with my 8 yr old DS, occasionally. At least now I know to ask him if he had a particularly stressful day that day so we can talk about it.

He has successfully curbed this behavior from when it started by being told it is unacceptable, but I realize that doesn't work for everyone.

I have ordered books to learn more about AS - I'm such a newb to all of this, but WOW. I wish I had known the signs in myself, my husband and my son sooner.

My dd does this too. I don't buy new shirts. Seriously, that would get way too expensive and who cares if the shirts have holes in the neck & sleeves? My dd will chew on a chewy but the shirt chewing happens also. She's almost 7 so I can see how at 10 it might be a bit different but clothes are fine "worn in" and clothes with holes are fashionable now. I would just try to look at the bright side.

My brother has Aspergers so growing up he only wore the same brand and type of shirt - he always has 7 or 8 identical shirts to this day (he's 48). My daughter is PDD/NOS and MR. No shirt works - she chews holes in them all! We finally found this great cheap source of nice T shirts.This is my first post so I can't post a link just search for Cheap Tees. Buy enough and you get free shipping. Now we buy Ts for the whole family from them! let me know if the apple spray works... might try. Thanks