Both of my boys have been diagnosed with severe ADHD. They both chew on everything! The biggest problem is their clothing. We purchased chewlery for both of them and Thing 1 does better with it than Thing 2. Thing 2 has literally chewed through 6 shirts. We took them off the Adderall and put them on Vyvanse thinking it was the drug, but it hasn't changed anything. They both chew on cloth only; they like to shred it to strings and then eat the strings. Their doctor is no help and the shrink isn't either.
Has anyone else experienced this? What worked for you?
Kids chew on their clothing because of the sensory stimulation they get from it. If the chewelry isn't meeting their sensory needs, they won't use them. Just as an example, my son doodles in class when the teacher is talking. He hears everything, it just helps him keep his brain engaged so he can pay attention. One teacher a couple years ago suggested a sensory patch--a piece of sticky-backed velcro with a few different textured things attached to it, stuck to the inside top of his desk. He never used it, because it didn't meet his needs.
I'd suggest maybe making something like a neclace that they can wear and chew on that is made of t-shirt material, since that's what they chew?
Do you think your kids' teachers would let them chew gum in school? That really helps kids who need to chew--if you think about it, their jaw is very near to their ears, and chewing likely helps them pay attention in school, similar to the doodling my son does to pay attention.
Gum chewing worked for us! Not all kids who chew on clothes and other things are doing for the sensory feedback they get from it. With that said, our son in addition to ADHD also has a diagnosis of sensory processing difficulties - but for him the chewing was a result of anxiety. Chewing however has a great effect; chewing chewy/firmer things such as gum, dried fruit, and bagels provides the jaw (more specifically the TMJ) with what is called proprioceptive input. Proprioception is basically information that is gathered by muscles. The TMJ actually has one of the highest concentration of proprioceptive receptors in the body. This information given by chewing helps to elicit brain chemical that aid with calming and organizing the body. But because they are chewing doesn't mean that that is the only sense to use to give them input - things like jumping on an excercise trampoline (with supervision), riding a bicycle uphill, raking leaves, vacuuming, swimming, wheelbarrow walks, classical music, neutral scents like vanilla, crunchy foods, drinking shakes/smoothies thru a straw, and swinging all provide calming/organizing input to the body. We have used a variety of these at home, at school, and in occupational therapy. You will need to find what works for them; we used to have the chewy Q and weighted lap pillow at school, however, by 1st grade our son didn't want to use them because he didn't want to be visabily different - he would say "the other kids don't have a chewy q" so we found ways/activities that other kids also did.
I have just joined this group; and was going to introduce myself but saw this and had to say that my son just saw his pedi this morning and it was confirmed that he in fact does have adhd. He is 8 and is always chewing on his clothes too...what is chewerly?
I also have a son who will be 2 in May and also chews on EVERYTHING! He does have the sensory disorder; and we are trying to get him to stop chewing on things so I am wanting to know about the chewerly for him as well...
Thanks!
Tracy
My 12 yr old does the same thing. Being in middle school, he has to wear a polo as part of his uniform. He buttons it all the way up to the top, it looks kinda dorky, but it is his way of making it harder to chew on in class. Last year he had an amazing teacher for first & third period that would let him get a handful of straws from the breakfast cart & he would chew on them in her classes. She eventually spoke with the other teachers about how effective it was for him & he chewed on straws all day, since he can't have gum in school. I am hopeful with school starting again that we can get something figured out again to help this year go by smoothly. But I am with you, we have had several t-shirts that have become pajama shirts because the collar has been chewed off. Unfortunately, my son likes to chew on strings, paper, plastic, pretty much anything he can get in his mouth!
Anyway, he LOVES them. I need together a couple more since he loves the scents. He's stopped the shirt chewing b/c I tell him he can only use his chew stixx! He's 6 btw.
My son has done it since he was about 3 I think it was maybe 4 he wasn't diagnosed till he was almost 7 I think they do it out of boredom or something I dunno
Check out these Tasty Treats from The Stir's partners:
TAKE YOUR CHILDREN OFF THE GARBAGE
- eeyore13
on Mar. 16, 2011 at 6:26 AM