Chewing??

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Ok...so I have a question here. A couple weeks ago, my son was downstairs, watching TV, and was kind of bored (he'd said so - and I really should have listened, but it was one of those times where I was doing homework of my own and just needed him to occupy himself.) Anyway, later that night, my son announced that he "wasn't thinking, and kind of chewed the buttons off of the TV remote." He chews A LOT. When he's "bored" (typically watching TV), he'll mindlessly chew on the collar of his shirt or when he's in class he'll chew on his fingers (he's got his nails bitten to the nubs as a result at times!), or he even chewed through the sleeve on a leather jacket he had last year! It seems as though he chews as a form of stimming, just as sometimes he'll announce that he needs to leave a restaurant in order to run and "get his energy out".

Are there any other things that I could introduce to him as a way of helping him cope or stim? Any ideas would be really helpful!!

My son has this problem too. I offered washcloths but he wouldn't take it. I bought new shirts for school and haven't taken them out of the bag, so they will be NEW for school. Then I will throw away the shirts with the collars chewed out.
He only started this the past 4 months?
I did it for a short time with certain clothes when I was 5 and I don't know why or how I stopped.

I'm trying sugarless gum for my chewing. So far, so good for about a year. I vary the flavors so I don't get bored.

I used to chew on the collar of my shirts and other things. I eventually grew out of it, so maybe the same will happen with him. I still find myself chewing on my pen or pencil, but it is now more of a harmless little habit.

Actually, my son has done this off and on since birth. I can remember when he was little and in the car seat, and I'd always know when he was about to go to sleep because he'd begin chewing on his fingers. Not really sucking them - but actually chewing them, chewing his nails...that kind of thing. He's always been really oral, and we've had to be very careful because he'd put anything he'd find in his mouth. The child will even chew on his dirty socks....so there you have it. Trouble is, he never seemed to grow out of it the way the baby & toddler books said he would, and yeah - he's ruined things before by chewing on them. (I cannot begin to tell you how many rubber tires we've gone through from his racecars - and no, he's never swallowed them, just chewed on them.) This was just, well...more obvious because it was the TV remote that we all use. LOL (what can you do but laugh at times?)
The chewing itself hasn't really gotten worse, just what he's been chewing ON.

My friend, who is a Special Ed teacher/case manager in Wisconsin, told me that they keep teething toys around for her Aspie and Autism kids to chew on. Obviously they don't have the ones that you put in the freezer because the kids would probably bite through them and get to the liquid (they are in 7th grade), but I guess they have all kinds of other ones with texture. I know my son was extra attached to his teething toys when he was a baby - and back then I had no idea what was going on, so I couldn't figure out why. Now I know.

I can't really take teething toys or frozen washcloths out in public with him without it being really noticed, so we definitely always have gum in the car for him, and he knows that's the only thing he's allowed to chew on when he needs to...but I wasn't sure if there were other things I could try introducing to him as well. My teacher friend was telling me that I should really have a checklist of things he can try to do for himself when he comes to me and says "I'm bored" (something that he can look at)...because it might be that when my son is saying that, he really might mean he needs something like chewing or running or something to help him cope, and so saying he's bored is just his way of vocalizing that he's not sure what he needs but that he needs something.

She was saying that some kids like different textures, some kids like to be brushed (I know there's a thread about that somewhere here - but in this case, it's to calm them, not as a way to desensitize them), others like to be wrapped up tightly...what do you try with your kids, or for yourselves?

I'm not really sure how you could have him do things other than chewing, but as long as he doesn't chew on metallic/toxic objects (I, for example, once began chewing on the ring-pull of a soda can. Not pleasant.) or other things that are harder than tooth enamel its pretty harmless. Keeping sugar-free gum on hand is a good idea, but paper can also act as a better alternative to most things (such as pens, clothes, fingers, TV remotes, headphone wires, plastic bottle tops, pebbles lying on the desk, coins, etc) if there's no gum available.

I just have to laugh because most...if not ALL of the items you list there (including the ring pull off of a soda can) are things that my darling son has been caught chewing on over the course of his life. Thankfully we got him to understand the electrical cords are off limits pretty quickly. (my husband is an engineer - and he rigged up some sort of experiment to show him what would happen to him if he chewed a cord. Turns out, my son is actually concerned about his well-being from time to time. LOL)

Gum it is then. I'm glad I wasn't completely off-base, and that it's not just my son that likes to chew things. Thanks everyone!

I have this problem too.

I suddenly become aware, im chewing on my flannel shirt collar tabs.

My son has the same problem, but tends to chew holes in his shirt from time to time.

I have found that silly putty in his left hand, while occupied with another task.
seems to be sufficiently stimulating to suppress the chewing.

That is a fabulous example of an idea to try, EvilTeach! This is exactly the type of thing I'd like to try - specifically because when he starts school - I'll need to be able to give the school and teachers ideas of things to try. That is of course, if I can work with the school to either qualify him for special services or at least work with them so that they understand Gavin's special needs. *big sigh*

Hi - I'm new and this is my first post! My son (almost 8 years old) chews EVERYTHING he can get his hands on. He chewed the knob cover off of the Gamecube controller the other day. We keep looking for fidget toys for him, but can't use most of them because they aren't chew-safe. He does like chewing on wet washcloths and I try to give him those as much as possible at home. We've also gotten a few extra-tough chewies from Therapro (www.theraproducts.com) that we use at home. They aren't really good for taking out in public, though. They're really resistant, but do look a little too much like teethers. There's also Chewelry, which is better for girls than boys, but isn't incredibly tough if he really likes to worry and gnaw at things rather than just a little chewing. We got one chewie that is a t-shape that we might send to school because it doesn't look too "odd".
I've tried gum with him a few times, but with his sensory issues he can't stand the taste of anything he's tried. I've thought of ordering "make your own gum" kits and not adding the flavoring, since he will chew the little gummy strips off of the back of juice boxes for hours.
I'm not sure how putty would work, but we might try it. It seems that anything that ends up as a hand fidget is too likely to get thrown across the room when he gets upset, so we've shied away from those.

Wow - thankfully my son doesn't get upset and act out quite like that (meaning he doesn't throw...but he DOES do other things, like kick, hit...etc.), but the chewing thing is still a problem here. He doesn't really like gum much and ends up swallowing it most of the time. The washcloths work the best, but not when we're out in public. I swear, there are just days when I feel like pulling my OWN hair out.