Masturbation

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In a message dated 4/17/2004 8:16:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time, autism writes:

His worse stim is> laying w/his stomach on the floor and pressing his penis/groin area> into the floor. His legs are slightly raised off the floor and he's> got a spaced out look on his face. He gets himself all sweaty and> clammy. When you try to get him off the floor, he throws a fit,> screams, bites his hand, etc. As I'm writing this, he's in his room> stimming on the floor with the keyboard playing music (playback> feature of the keyboard).> > > My HFA son has this same stim. It surfaced when he was about two years old.> He is now 3 1/2 and still does it, sometimes more, sometimes less. His> pediatrician thinks it is a form of masturbation. His OT disagrees and thinks> he does it to get more proprioceptive input as well as to calm himself. I> don¹t know what to think. So I have no advice for you, just sympathy.

My son had this stim behavior since he was 2 or 3 also. We called it swimming for lack of a better description. He would clasp his hands together and would lay on top of them positioned in front of his penis. We always knew or felt it was a self stimulatory behavior as is masturbation. He would press and rock back and forth and work himself into a sweat also. He is 17 years old today and still has this behavior. He almost always will go into his room and do this on his bed. When he was younger he would do it anywhere. We never stopped him from doing it, but always sent him to his room and closed the door. We refer to it as needing privacy. Today he will go in his room but has not yet learned to close the door. We are always checking on him and when we discover where he is and what he is doing, we let him know he needs privacy and we close the door. It has got to be very difficult for out autistic sons to have all that pent up sexual tension during puberty. Isnt it amazing what a natural act masturbation is--not something you have to teach. I think its all fine. My son is usually very relaxed and exhausted afterwards if he is able to get himself to that point. Helps over all in the mood and anxiety categories!!

D from NJMarried with 2 sonsTommy 17 y.o. ADD , 16 Autism with Moderate Retardation, Seizure/Spike disorder, ADD, OCD, Bipolar-like cycling. Currently taking Topamax 300 mg; Seroquel 1300 mg; Celexa 40 mg.; Haldol 1.5 mg.; Lamictal 250 mg.

[Guest guest]

It seems I heard that this kind of behavior is caused by a yeast overgrowth. It was on one of these boards but don't remember which. Seems like it was Danasview. It's been a while so I can't remember. Does the child take probiotics?

From: Farris <SSHEIL3@...>Subject: RE: Masturbation Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 5:22 PM

A functional behavior test should be done to figure out what purpose the behavior is satifying ( boredom or calming etc.) Then replace the behavior with another behavior that is appropriate and satifying the same need. If you cannot figure out the purpose, I would come up with a few most likely reasons for the behavior and start replacing as soon as possible.

autism From: plunkf@...Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:33:02 +0000Subject: Masturbation

I work as an Autism Resource Specialist, and my own son is diagnosed with Autism. I had a parent that stumped me with this question.They want to know how to stop their 4 year old son from 'masturbating'. He rubs himself aginst things for hours at a time.Obviously there is a sensory need, but I am uncertain as to how they should proceed to determine exactly what the sensory need is, and how to appropriately provide for that. He sits in the room rubbing his stuffed animals and anything else he can, on his genitals and this is understandably quite embarrassing for the parents when they have guests. His is non verbal, but I cannot work out what he is trying to communicate through this behavior, especially as there is a pleasure factor at work as well. This behavior continues for up to five hours at a time, according to the family. Any suggestions?