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Our newest daughter (foster to adopt) just turned four today. She has a huge oral fixation. She is a thumb sucker, but also puts everything else into her mouth. I I meaneverything: toys, clothing, books, stair railing, pillows.... I even caught her sucking on a restraint belt in the shopping cart (ewww). It is no longer she catches colds so frequently. Her behavior in this area is like that of a one year old. Since our other children are all older (8,11,11) we have to be very careful with their toys. They play with legos and that sort of thing, but she can't play with them at all because they all go into her mouth.
Has anyone else had to deal with this, and what did you do? Our other adopted children were 5 and 9 at placement, and our bio child never sucked his thumb or a binky or anything, so this is all very different for me.
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS]My now 4 year old son has sensory issues...including oral issues and mouthing was one of his biggies. An evaluation by an OT familiar with SID/SPD would be helpful. My DS had his :paci: until recently...he needed it when stressed or going to sleep or he would chew/gnaw on his shirt neck until it was soaked and full of holes. As we have treated his sensory issues...this has all but disappeared. Last night he fell asleep before asking for it...I usually let him have it to fall sleep and then pluck it right out.[/FONT]
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hmmm. Never thought about SPD. Our 8 year old has sensory issues, but she is nothing like that. She actually rarely seems anxious (which doesn't mean she isn't, of course she is, this is her third placement in a year), where as he is continually fretting over one thing or another. No, Jan, she doesn't have any speach issues. In fact, for just turning 4 she is quite articulate with a large vocabulary.
The mouthing of things seems to be a constant, whether she is bored, nervous or happily playing.
I thought SPD/SID when I first read this too. DS came home with serious teeth issues. I thought that his oral fixation (hands in mouth rubbing gums to sleep) was a habit he had developed in Russia to soothe himself from his infected teeth.
Turns out it was a big sign of SID. He's still stims orally when he is nervous. His tongue will jut around in his closed mouth like he is rubbing his gums with his tongue when he has to get up in front of class or in a gymnastic meet. He's learned to be more appropriate about it through his OT.