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Hi,

I'm new here (in the sense that I'm posting, but have been reading for quite awhile). I have a DD8 who is mostly likely 2E. For years I've been focusing on the big picture but she's not been formally diagnosed... complicated little girl. Recently I bought her a chewable necklace because she's always either chewing on her shirt or has a small object in her mouth. She seems to love the new necklace but I'm wondering if this will encourage her to chew on things more. For years I've been asking her to try and stop (with no luck). It definitely has redirected her and I'm not worried about choking, so this is good. I'm going to ask for a referral for OT. What are your experiences with SPD? Does it wax and wane? Does OT help with chewing? Any resources online that have helped? Thanks.

Nell

My DS8 is a chewer and has been for several years. He does not have an SPD diagnosis but I have purchased chew toys since he was in K. I noticed that he chews either when he is processing something interesting or difficult or when he is bored out of his mind. I have never tried to discourage chewing but have always redirected it away from clothes and pencils, etc. to his chew toys. It was a problem for his school last year because he chewed pencils and one of his teachers called the chewers in the class goats. This year at a new school, his teacher suggested we send in dried Mango that she would give him when he needed it. This year, he is in a school that is a much better fit and I have noticed that while he still chews, he has been chewing less than before. My DH is still a chewer so I doubt that my DS will ever really outgrow it and I bit my nails as a kid and still struggle not to do that today. We turned out ok, so I am fine with appropriate chewing.

Lol. My dd used to chew her hair at 8. Now at 9 it's her sleeve. She used to give me her backpack and the handle would be wet. Gross! The chewing comes and goes. Last time we were at the orthodontist he suggested that all her adult teeth were coming in but her baby teeth wernt falling out and if they aren't all out by april they will be pulled. I wonder if their crazy teeth between age six and ten have something to do with the chewing. Babies do it when they get teeth. Just a thought. It is what I tell myself anyway so the behavior doest make me crazy. And when it was the hair, I had it cut.

You might find some of this information on retained infantile reflexes interesting. Chewing behavior that persist into childhood is often associated with retained reflexes. We found OT aimed at integrating these retained reflexes to be helpful for our son.

I used to chew on things when I was little. I would suck on my hair, chew on necklaces, I can't even remember all the things now. Since I've been on this board, I realized that I had lots of things that would have been diagnosed as 2e/SPD, but they didn't have all of that back then.

I'd say if there are treatments that seem reasonable and work for you, go for it, otherwise she will probably grow out of it. At least, I did.

I too have many SPD-like traits and probably could be diagnosed. I'm more on the hyper side but dd is a mixture of hypo and hyper. It's adult/baby teeth perspective could definitely be a part of it. Thanks aculady for the link and thanks everyone for your thoughts and reassurance.

Nell