Quote:Mouthing, especially of the hands tends to occur for one of several reasons. First, they may be very sensory overloaded and trying to organize themself. If you see this behavior incrase when it is noisy or busy that may be the case. Second, they may have very poor oral and/ or hand awareness, what's called decreased tactile discrimination skills. In that case they may be seeking input to try to stimulate themselves. It's kind of like being wrapped in a winter coat and gloves or having novocaine in your mouth, it's hard to feel things. Since the mouth, hands and genitals have the most sensory receptors, those are the most sensitive areas of the body and tend to be the most frequently sought out to provide increased input.

(12-19-2010, 05:59 PM)Pearso22 Wrote: Hi Lydia, I had a look at your blog re coping tools. My son is 4 with autistic spectrum condition and he is very 'sensational'. He jumps up and down all the time repetitively, I am getting a mini trampoline for him and I notice you said you use yours all the time. Have you had this need to bounce since you were very young? He also chews on his fingers all the time, what pleasure does this bring to him? I wish I knew. I ordered some chewlery for him from USA, I'm hoping he may chew that instead of his fingers and nails but I'm not sure it will work. Interesting to read your blog, thanks! (I just joined here this week too).