
Autism / Autism Spectrum Support Group
Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder which manifests itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability, patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. Although the specific etiology of autism is unknown, many researchers suspect that autism results from genetically mediated vulnerabilities to environmental triggers.
thought it was just a "conner thing"
Kris
What happened with my son was he was at a school whose philosophy was very behavioral. They used behavior modification (rather than understanding this was sensory, which I had no idea about at the time because this was back in 1990). Anyway he eventually stopped pushing his chin into the back of his hand, HOWEVER he started pushing his two top front teeth into the back of his hand. he know has a scar that is about 3 inches long and about 2 inches wide at it's widest point. It's pretty rough looking.
He still teeth pushes when he is very really overwhelmed, angry, upset or too excited (even if it is happy excited.)
The best thing we can do is to make sure he gets enough deep pressure sensory input.
When the teeth pushing was at it's worst he was doing it 125 times a day. He was 8 at that point and had recently transitioned from a private autism school to public school. Eventaully we saw a psychiatrist who put him on a small dose of an anti anxiety medication (and SSRI) and the teeth pushing dropped to about 20 times a day. Now he only does it if he is going through a rough patch. he can go weeks without pushing and then do it a lot in one day.
It really is a sensory issue though.
Hope this helps all your chinney kids ; )
I call him Mr. Chin. He laughs when he does it. Its a game with him and I. he also love to rub noses and give butterfly kisses.
When he was a baby, he showed no autistic traits. I just remember when he was just 9 months old, he was lying down awake looking me right in the eyes like he always did. I had the urge to put pressure on the sides of his head. ( I had just started giving my older asd son sensory treatments like that)I wanted to do it on my baby just to see his reaction. My heart sank when I saw the look in his face when I did it. He was so relaxed and almost in a completley different world. That was my first indication that he may too have autism. Low and behold, he is now and developmentally a 2 year old.