Hello everyone,
I have a 10 year old daughter who was diagnosed with ADHD inattentive subtype a few years back and we have been managing with lifestyle interventions at the moment. A new behavior that we have noticed is chewing on her shirt collars. Does anyone have any tips and tricks to help stop this behavior?
Thank you,
Hi - my 10 year old son also is predominat inattentive subtype and a shirt chewer (along with blankets, knees of pants or anything that inadvertently ends up in his mouth). He’s done it for years and tends to happen when he’s watching a tv show or movie that is really exciting or when nervous, so I assume it’s a comfort thing. It’s never caused too much of an issue besides just needing a shirt change, so havent ever done much about it besides reminding him if noticing he’s doing it.
You are not alone. We don’t know exactly why, but we have dealt with the exact same thing. Our son is now 10 and has ADHD. He was diagnosed a year and a half ago.. When he was 7-8, before his diagnosis, he would spit on his shirts all day long leaving huge wet spots on them. But there was no wetness on his pillows at night. His pediatrician thought it was anxiety and he went on medication for that. The spitting went away completely! But later on, he began to chew on all of his shirts. He would chew holes through all of them. We tried alternative chewing options, such as chewelery, but he would chew them to pieces. That lasted for over a year. He was still being treated for anxiety and now ADHD medication. Now it has moved on to just spitting. He spits everywhere and he can’t control it. It is very hard to deal with. I’m not sure what to do. I just wanted you to know you are not alone. I know anxiety goes hand in hand wifh ADHD. If you find any answers, please let me know. We’ve been dealing with these problems for years now.
Hi, my son is 4 y.o. and does this. His teacher thinks he needs more sensory input and recommended getting him OT services. We just got approved by the school district to add this to his IEP, so we’ll see if the OT can help with this. Just this past weekend we bought him some things to chew on, but he doesn’t like those…just loves his shirts, jackets, blankets etc.
hi, my son who is diagnosed with ADHD and is now 10…soon to be 11…used to do this when he was younger. I remember buying these cute necklaces that he could wear and chew on. Honestly, it was awhile ago and hard to remember as he has a twin sister, but I do know he grew out of it!
How do you get he supples (Cherie’s) to make these?
Hi, This is common. They make special chewing necklaces if that can help. An OT can advise. Also, would he consider chewing gum? The school should let him do that if it helps.
Great idea to try gum!
Hello - my son presents as hyperactive and briefly chewed his school uniform sweaters when he was in kindergarten. The school was a terrible fit. They were scaring him to death. When we left that school the behavior ceased immediately and was never seen again. Today he is 10 turning 11 this year.
My 7yo son chews on shirts and blankets often, we've bought some of the chew necklaces and chew devices (shaped like a P) from Ark Therapeutics and put them around the house. They're expensive but have helped.
Hi, yes my son was a total shirt chewer around that age. It's fairly common. We never used the necklaces that others recommend here but they sound like a great idea.
I write this to just say that she will grow out of it. My son has a sense of humor about it now and it's a distant memory. I know that for myself, I was a pen chewer probably into college. At some point, I just stopped. When I see the deformed pens on my son's desk now, I smile.
my daughter did this as well. She would chew on water bottle caps and pencil tops, which is a scary choking hazard. I eventually bought these soft tube like pencil toppers and she just loved them and that resolved my concerns with safety… the chewing behavior eventually faded and she now does some other less obvious stims. what I've been told and have read about, is that it can be a sensory-seeking behavior that serves to satisfy increase need for sensory input and may also serve as anxiety/tension relief.
I'll also add that in my personal experience, this is common for children/teens on the spectrum as well. I work as an RBT teaching ABA therapy to EI Autistic kiddos and I see this behavior frequently. My daughter was diagnosed this year at 16 yo.
So with that said, find him safe options to chew and provide him plenty of opportunities for sensory input. Some examples are heavy pushing, lifting pulling work, sensory swings, crash pads, ball pits and swimming is a great activity too.
🙂
Id really suggest medication. Helps. Otherwise, I bought my son one of those rubber chewing necklaces. It was a dinosaur tooth. He wore it a few days, hated it, and stopped completely chewing. I guess he decided it wasn't worth it. *Shrugs*
I work in special education, and chewed on my hair as a kid. These days there is stuff called chewelry, or chewies. Basically it’s like a big piece of rubber kids can chew on if they have oral fixations like this.
Gum! I had it put into my sons 504 plan at school. What a difference! (we tried the chewy necklaces, but they always got lost) gum was and is still a great sensory tool to help with that
Amazing! Great idea to put it in the 504 plan. Thank you for that!
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