6 yr old self stimulating behavior?

You can locate this service by contacting your school district. It's free too!!

I am not a professional by any means but I too noticed my son "touching" himself and fidgeting often also making noises etc. I was in a class once and the teacher said something and I was like "holy crap" that is the reason my son does this. Anyways my son did this because he had anxiety. We bought him a stress ball ( you can find them at fitness stores) and let him carry it around. He even has it in class. He is now in the 4th grade. The penis touching releases endorphines that calm his anxiety. Everything changed once we got him that silly little ball. It is something to at least give a try.

I do the lip-smacking/tongue clicking thing myself (and I'm 28!)-- in my case it's from ADHD, but I'm sure it could be a lot of things.

As an elementary school teacher, let me say that self stimulation is SO normal for K-2 grade. It doesn't even phase teachers anymore....we just get their attention and redirect to the lesson. If it occurs VERY often, I sometimes ask the nurse or counselor to talk to them....just to make sure that there isn't something going on as it can sometimes (rarely) be a sign of previous or ongoing abuse or inappropriate touch. As a fostermom I have seen this in my fostersons. One would drain the water from the tub and then stay in the tub for a few minutes to "play" before getting out and vigorously toweling himself dry. We simply told him that if he spent the few minutes after bath doing that then he wouldn't have time for bedtime snack....that stopped that! We did tell his therapists though because when I would pop my head in to check on him he would abruptly stop and appear embarrassed which implied that he felt it was wrong to do it......most kids do not see anything wrong with it because it was something they just "discovered" felt good. That's why it doesn't bother them in the least to do it in a classroom with 20 other kids in the middle of a math lesson. HeeHee. So when they act ashamed of it, I always see it as a red flag that perhaps it was something they were "taught" and they feel bad about it. As long as son is just walking along doing his thing, I would just redirect him or tell him that no one should touch his privates and that he, too, should not be touching them in public. As far as the the noise making.....totally age appropriate as well. Speak to his dr. about it at the next appt but I would not lay awake worrying about it. Kim

A lot of Post Institutionalized kids have sensory issues. I would post this on the Russian board - you will find that many of us have kids from Russia with SID/SPD. My son (also 6 and very much an oral stimulator) saw an OT for sensory integration disorder for 9 months. We have just graduated out of the program and he will go back in 3 months to watch his progress. What you are describing definitely fits into the SID/SPD profile. At 6 he is too old for early intervention in my state, I am not sure what the cut off is where you are. The school district would evaluate him here. We were not able to get a dx through the school district. They are not very familiar with sensory seeking behavior more with sensory avoidance so he did not meet their criteria. I had him evaluated privately through a PediNeuroPsych. Feel free to pm me with questions! Christina