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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
One step forward...
Right now he's learning "Ouch! Are you Ok?" which would be better if he wasn't banging against the wall to make the ouches. I don't think he's actually injuring himself, but it's still disturbing. He went through a phase of fake sneezing and asking for bless you's, so I guess this is along the same lines. Sometimes I wish I had the magical answers of how to react in these cases. Right now I'm going with ignore it and reward any other activity.
Oh, oral fixations are back, too. I had hoped he'd outgrown it. I've been giving him cinnamon gum, which he loves. I'm hoping the strong flavor and chewing will satisfy whatever it is that is giving him the urge to chew on inappropriate things like strings, knobs, doors, shirts, etc.
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"Ouch! Are you OK?" reminds me of how I automatically say "ouch" whenever I'm hit, even if I'm not hurt. I stopped saying it when I did my head-bouncing-off-walls because it was distressing my roommates a little.
ReplyDeleteThere is a way to control the angle and speed of the head banging so that it doesn't hurt. Distance also helps. I call mine head-bouncing, even though it can be seen as head banging. But there's something in the feeling of moving through the air, combined with the thud and impact against my head, that's just satisfactory and comforting.
Also, I think the "Ouch! Are you Ok?" is him learning the mini-script, as I call it.
Also, would boxes be considered inappropriate things to chew on? and pens?
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMost of the ouch-are-you-oks have not involved head banging, and the head banging is against a wall that makes a very loud sound, so I don't think he's really hurting himself. It just concerns me as a mom. Part of our job description is to worry about the worst possible scenario for these things.
The current echolalia is actually a big improvement. I see it as a mini-script learning experience, too.
In my mind, mouthing/chewing is inappropriate when it is either dangerous/unhealthy or damaging to the object. So pens and boxes would be out, though I know some NTs use pens/pencils as chew toys.