RE: Pacifier obsession

[Guest guest]

Hi, I think

VB has a third school of thought. Tom is very obsessive and when we used to do ABA we used to forbid him

all his obsessions. In some cases, he used to forget them but in other cases,

they become even more desirable. When we switched to VB the philosophy was to

let him have them but to make sure he couldn’t have them when we didn’t

want him to and also to make sure there were not millions of them lying around

in his reach. I’m talking about things like numbers here. There was a

stage when we had filled the house with them to be used as reinforcers. But this

is an abnormal situation so we chucked all but one or two sets out and made

sure they were put away. Nine times out of ten when Tom asks for them we say ‘yes’

but then after a while we say ‘let’s tidy up’ and put them

away. The more he cries, the more often we put them away (reduce the time he’s

allowed them). It’s like Caroline says, think of him as a ‘normal’

child and control the obsession like you’d control sweets, for example. You

probably wouldn’t forbid them altogether and you probably wouldn’t

let your child have them all the time. The difference and key with the VB

approach is not to use them as rewards or punishments. Never comment on them

(nothing verbal whatsoever – eg ‘dummies are for babies’ ‘is

the dummy nice?’ ‘nice dummy’ ‘horrible dummy’

All of these draw attention to the obsession and stop it from fading out

naturally) Basically DO NOT make a big deal out of them. the child has to learn

to control the obsession themselves at some stage in the future.

One more

thing, Tom put absolutely EVERYTHING in his mouth when we introduced probiotics

and then he calmed down and doesn’t anymore. Could it be a reaction to a

supplement?

Hope this helps,

SARA x

Re:

Pacifier obsesion

Hi

there,

You

could check his Minerals? Zince deficiency I think realted to Pica (chewing

stuff)..

I would

also advise getting his teeths checked just in case...

And

lastly, dont know what age your child is but try and get rid of it like any

child, gradually only getting it indoors, only at certian times, until one day

its just gotts disappear, you will have hell for a little while and then it

settles...

I know

for the Sensory Integration lists I used to be on that this is a common thing

and there are actually things you can buy called chewy tubes which will

help/satisfy this need, if thats what you want...

Its 2

schools of thought really, personally I would not let have this cos I

dont think its a good thing, unhygenic etc whereas others believe that children

should have the reinforcers they want to stim with if thats comforting. It

depends where you lie, bit like difference between ABA Approach compared to

TEACCH in my humble opinion!! (But heh we discussed that one last week.

Gotta

go am wittering...

Lotsa

Luck caroline

xx

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