tearing up things - Autism Spectrum Message Board

momofchris · 06-03-2005, 03:04 PM

My son Chris is itearing up everything he can get his hands on recently, bills video covers bascially anything paper. I have tried putting stuff higher but he just climbs up to get things. He has alot of sensory problems. Anyone got any advice on what I can do to prevent this?? THanks..

jeffreys mom · 06-03-2005, 09:22 PM

Have you tried giving him a pile of paper that is to be discarded for him to do what he wants with? Also, I know it's not paper, but have you ever tried bubble pack for him to pop? It's listed on a sensory diet my sons OT gave me. I haven't tried it but it supposedly works out the need to do things like this. good luck.

P.S. I know how you feel, my son loves to get the box of rice krispies and dump them all over the place. It drives me crazy

momofchris · 06-04-2005, 06:31 AM

Yes I have tried to give him paper to tear. I honestly think he likes to get into stuff that hes not supposed to. He gets what I call the evil grin when he gets into stuff. I am going to try and gets some bubble wrap. His ot gave him some at school and he loved it. This am I woke up and found Chris had a little party last night had oatmeal all over the floor

I am glad to hear that my kid isn't the only one to do that though.

AggieMom · 06-04-2005, 09:08 AM

Any one have any suggestions for a 7yr old ASD son who pours soap/shampoo/shaving cream/lotion/makeup/jelly/syrup/etc...the list is almost endless, all over things? We are especially tired of having to replace shavinig cream and liquid soap ( as I sit here, the smell of liquid soap wafts out of the shower where he made his own "slip and slide"). We try to keep things inaccessable, buy mine also has that "grin" and can usually get to what he's looking for. I know it must be a sensory thing, my son is hypo/under sensitive- loves messes, mud, sand, water, etc... I just can't figure out what to use to try to replace the liquid soap type "craving". Personally, I like to "blame" his teachers for letting him "paint" in shaving cream from the time he was 3yrs old. My favorite story is that my husband attend an ARD with me while he was on vacation from work and hadn't shaved. One of the Admin. people made a comment about his not having shaved and I said he could blame the teachers for letting my son "play" in shaving cream- we didn't have any!
Also, if anyone has a suggestion, how often do you need to give them access to things in their sensory diet- is it a daily routine to "prevent" the behavior or just when they start to get into the things they are not supposed to?Thanks

bjm32 · 06-04-2005, 12:26 PM

Wow, I thought that my son was the only one with the "Tazmanian Devil" act. I have been dealing with this for years. Now we have a bolt lock on the fridge, a key lock on one cabinet in the kitchen where I keep medicine and dish soap (he loves to dump dish soap, shampoo, shaving cream, basically anything liquid that comes in a squeeze bottle)and anything else I can cram in there that he gets into. We have no food in our kitchen cupboards it's either locked in the fridge or in the cabinet thing we bought and put in our back hall. That he has no ascess to because of the bolt locks on our back door. We have a hook lock that is on the very top of the bathroom door. Inside the bathroom we have cabinet that has a key lock to keep all the bathroom stuff safe. I started to blame my son's teachers too because they were working on teaching him to open things himself, well he sure picked up on that one fast. They also let him do dishes at school and so when I have dirty dishes in the sink, he runs the water and just puts them in the dish strainer. (At school he washes the dishes hand over hand) I've tried doing it with him at home but he just looks at me funny, I think it's because he's so use to doing it with his teacher and aides and not me. (My son is 12 and non-verbal) He still manages to get into things. It drives me crazy too.

Glad to hear I'm not alone in this battle! ~Bunny