Shirt Chewing and Bitter Apple Spray...

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Jimbeaux
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05 Mar 2010, 9:05 pm

CleverKitten wrote:
What if you gave him a set allowance and made him buy his own shirts with his own money?
Maybe that'll help him learn to take better care of his belongings, as well as teach him the value of a dollar! :lol:


That will definitely be a good idea when he is older, and he works around the house to earn an allowance, but without earning the money, he would not appreciate it. Anyway, he would argue that it is "his money", go to school in rags, and want to spend the money on legos and such.



Boudicca
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05 Mar 2010, 10:16 pm

What about trying different fabrics? Are there any fabrics he doesn't like to chew? Of course, that may bring up a different sensory issue.

My son does the same thing. He's also very destructive around the house - has put holes in walls, furniture, messes up just about anything he touches. It's a problem.



TuDoDude
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06 Mar 2010, 8:19 pm

Well, if you consider him a dog you may try the bitter apple spray. I'm old and I still chew my shirts if I'm not observing what I do. I chew the shirts unconsciously but it is awkward to have shirts like that (chewed up). I generally chew pencils or plastic as a somwhat socially acceptable replacement. As a child my guardian threatened to put chicken cr*p on my shirts if I didn't stop. Other than making me puke it didn't have much of a lasting effect. It's not that I want to destroy shirts it's just a better alternative to not chewing on the shirt.

Really though, I would have a hard time believing that even if you bought a new shirt every school day it would be over 100 dollars a month.

It's probably not that he chose not to obey but it's just how he is.

Jimbeaux wrote:
I wanted to get a view of a situation from your points of view.

My girlfriend's son (Billy, 10 yr old aspie) is costing us well into the triple digits each month for new shirts. He chews and ruins his shirts, after one time of wearing them. Yes, I know, this is stress relief, but we can no longer afford it.

So last week, I made a deal with him. We to took some of his and mine old shirts and make "chewy cloth" necklaces for him, the collars and such of ruined shirts (I recently lost a lot of weight and therefor have a lot of old shirts). If he could chew on these for stress relief rather than ruining his shirts, we won't start spraying "bitter apple spray" on his collars.

Well, it didn't work. He ignored it and has ruined six shirts since we made it for him. When I told him we were doing the bitter apple, he got REALLY upset and angry. That was a shame, but we simply can't afford to spend that much money per month on shirts for him!

What are your thoughts on it?


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Jimbeaux
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08 Mar 2010, 11:01 am

Shirts are $5-10 each. He destroys 4-6 shirts a week. Do the math.

And I won't accept that it is simply "how he is". Others here have stopped, he can too. When he was younger before I met him, when he got angry, his first instinct was to smash things. Well, smash OTHER peoples things. Through punishment, he learned to correct that behavior of "how he was". This isn't much different. I want to have him redirect his behavior.

We tried it this weekend, btw. Works like a charm. He gets angry at first, and begs not to have it put on his shirt, but after one time putting the bitter material in his mouth, he gagged, spat, complained, then the rest of the day he used his chewy necklace.



Jessicawolske
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30 Jul 2021, 12:25 pm

Have you tried ordering chew necklaces and encouraging the use of that. They also have pencil toppers for in school. My son had the same issue and it went down drastically when he started wearing his necklace. For the first week i kept him within seeing distance and wore one of my own as much as possible and anytime i would see him chewing i would say a firm but gentle no honey please dont chew on your shirt use your necklace instead like this and id put mine in my mouth. A friend of mine did it this way but also added the spray on the areas of his shirt he chews on as a deterent basically. Good luck!! !



naturalplastic
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30 Jul 2021, 12:50 pm

Jessicawolske wrote:
Have you tried ordering chew necklaces and encouraging the use of that. They also have pencil toppers for in school. My son had the same issue and it went down drastically when he started wearing his necklace. For the first week i kept him within seeing distance and wore one of my own as much as possible and anytime i would see him chewing i would say a firm but gentle no honey please dont chew on your shirt use your necklace instead like this and id put mine in my mouth. A friend of mine did it this way but also added the spray on the areas of his shirt he chews on as a deterent basically. Good luck!! !

This thread died eleven years ago.

The person you are addressing probably solved the problem, stopped visiting WP, and died of old age years ago. Lol!

Folks...please look at the dates before you bring a thread back to life!