embarrising stim

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So my son is ten and feels the urge to tough his rectum and smell his fingers, I can not get him to stop. I am worried about sanitation. He says he feels like he has to do it.

Have you tried redirecting it with something else?

If he feels like he needs to smell something, maybe get him spices, etc to smell. Or is he obsessed with just that region in general?

If he feels like he has to do it, I would write a social story about why it is unhealthy and offer different ideas to do instead of that action.

I have tried some other smelling things , and discussed ecoli. I will look up some stories though.

Raven is your SC for South Carolina? If so thats where I live.

Nope...just my initials!

I've been to SC though! Very beautiful! <3

What triggers your kiddo's stims?

Prozac is FDA approved for the treatment of OCD. It is an SSRI anti-depressant, anti-anxiety drug. Some kids get hyperactive when first put on the drug; otherwise it is well-tolerated and makes the kids feel good.

It has helped a lot with my younger son's stimming. He has OCD and AS and is about to turn 4.

From what I have read about OCD, if your son's fixations are bad enough to qualify as OCD, it is often unresponsive to behavioral interventions alone. Behaviorial interventions and medication are generally required for OCD.

My son's med is prescribed by a child psychiatrist. A child psychiatrist or pediatric neurologist would best be able to manage meds if you go that route.

sawyersmom - don't know how old your kiddo is but at some point most kids have a general sense that they don't want their peers to think they are strange. Sit down with him and draw the scenario out with stick figures and thought bubbles. You can include figures of the kids in his class or something and draw thought bubbles above their heads with them thinking something like "Oooh gross! That makes me not want to be near that boy" when they see him doing that. Also include as part of the story him getting sick as a result of this unsanitary behavior. You can even conclude the story with him doing some other action that is OK to do. Lots of options to try before medication.

hey sawyersmom, so frustrating isn't it? don't have any advice but to just let you know that my kiddo also has a fixation with that area, although he does not smell his fingers after. We have tried redirection, education, everything, but finger still goes to the bum

Mine sometimes does the same thing. It bugs me, but that's my issue. I just taught her that it's something to be done in private, and always wash her hands after. She's not doing it enough to injure herself or anything, so I treat it like masturbation, basically. She goes through phases where she wants more or less private stimulation, but overall it does seem to be less common as time goes by. I know when I first tried to take action to redirect or teach her not to, she did it more. Kind of like telling someone not to thing about something...just making the request makes it impossible for them to get it out of their heads.

My approach to most things with the kids is acceptance and safety, though. I don't generally tell them many things are just never ok...I help them figure out when something is ok and when it is not. That works much better for us.

sawyersmom: I am with you. I know how stressful some stims can be. My daughter's stim was masturbating. She did inside the classroom, in front of EVERYBODY. It was very difficult to handle. Her therapist recommended us not to make her feel guilty or embarrassed about it. To avoid talking about the subject (not to stress on negative behavior). What we did was to keep her inside our sight range all the time, and as soon as she started involving in the activity to redirect to another activity. The new activity had to be interesting for her and had to include using her hands (finger painting, playdough, jewelry, cooking, etc.). We did it for a while until she finally forgot about the stim. The therapist also recommended us trying to find another stim she could replace that one for, but our kid did not pick a new stim, she just stopped doing that. It took a while (like a year), but it did work.

Probably you should consider trying to get professional help.

He is on an antidepressant that has helped a ton of ocd behaviors. Usually he does it alone in his room , after school or something. Its been going on since he was 3 or 4. I don't know how I would handle the masturbating thing.

Which antidepressant is he on and how much? Maybe you can contact the doctor about adjusting the meds, especially if he has been on the same dose for a while and has grown a lot.

Also, you might need the help of an ABA therapist or child psychologist in addition to the meds. From what I've read, combining meds with therapy is most effective. If he is in a public school, you might also be able to set up a behaviorial intervention plan of some sort in order to address this behavior.

Just some thoughts.