Re: Thumb sucking question (long)

March 9, 2007

My grandson is in his first year of preschool through the school district. He

is a brand new 3 year old and a thumb sucker but the school is not allowing him

to suck his thumb at school (recently). I realize that when he is sucking his

thumb he won't be able to do other things that he should be doing and it

discourages speech but he has significant sensory issues and is getting school

OT and private OT and private ST. They may be conserned about germs too I

guess, because what they say to discourage it is " Clean Hands. " Anyway, I

didn't mind as long as he didn't, but the last day he was at school he spent

most of the day crying and that is the way he comforts himself but he wasn't

allowed to. They did other things for him like hug, swing and the usual OT

stuff but apparently nothing worked. He even cried in the swing which he loves.

Two things happened that day...his aunt and uncle and their dog, who had been

visiting for the weekend, left that morning and he did not have a bowl movement

before school. He doesn't go at school anymore for some reason, but he had one

as soon as he came home. He doesn't have the speech to tell anyone what his

problems may be...his thumb may be his only comfort in his mind away from home.

I love the school and the teacher and other staff but I am trying to look at it

from his perspective. My children sucked their thumbs and stopped when they

were ready. No one, not even I, told them not to...all are successful and well

adjusted (I think) ). Should I be concerned? Aggie

----- Original Message -----

March 9, 2007

My son is almost 4, and he sucks his thumb also. I feel the same way about

it as you do.

I support our school system and teachers, because I think they get a bum

rap. But here, I do not agree with them. I think you should explain your

feelings to his teachers, and nicely ask that they respect his needs. You

get more with sugar, than spice.

On 09 Mar 2007 04:32:09 -0800, Gene and Aggie Birocco <birocco@...>

wrote:

>

> My grandson is in his first year of preschool through the school

> district. He is a brand new 3 year old and a thumb sucker but the school is

> not allowing him to suck his thumb at school (recently). I realize that when

> he is sucking his thumb he won't be able to do other things that he should

> be doing and it discourages speech but he has significant sensory issues and

> is getting school OT and private OT and private ST. They may be conserned

> about germs too I guess, because what they say to discourage it is " Clean

> Hands. " Anyway, I didn't mind as long as he didn't, but the last day he was

> at school he spent most of the day crying and that is the way he comforts

> himself but he wasn't allowed to. They did other things for him like hug,

> swing and the usual OT stuff but apparently nothing worked. He even cried in

> the swing which he loves. Two things happened that day...his aunt and uncle

> and their dog, who had been visiting for the weekend, left that morning and

> he did not have a bowl movement before school. He doesn't go at school

> anymore for some reason, but he had one as soon as he came home. He doesn't

> have the speech to tell anyone what his problems may be...his thumb may be

> his only comfort in his mind away from home. I love the school and the

> teacher and other staff but I am trying to look at it from his perspective.

> My children sucked their thumbs and stopped when they were ready. No one,

> not even I, told them not to...all are successful and well adjusted (I

> think) ). Should I be concerned? Aggie

>

> ----- Original Message -----

>

March 9, 2007

...thanks for the reply. So are you saying that this is a school policy

because it just started and no one said anything to me about it. I overheard

her saying " clean hands " to him and so that is how I found out. Thanks again.

Aggie

March 9, 2007

Aggie

If you have a " good " OT - they should suggest some sort of alternative device

that could give him the sensory comfort he needs but avoid the whole germ/clean

hands issue. I think they are called oral tubes or chew tubes. It is rubber &

like a chew toy (excuse the crass analagy - I can't think of any other way to

put it). My son recieved one because when he gets mad or sensory overloaded he

puts his mouth on things & chews (fortunately doesn't do this to people!!). We

never had to actually use it because once his communication improved this

behavior has all but gone away.

Also - thumb sucking like a binki or bottle is awful hard to quit cold turkey.

If this is a behavior he needs to stop then it should be a gradual process. Just

like when you ditch the binki - you work toward only at night before you

actually get rid of it.

I know " normal " kids are able to go the cold turkey route but our children are

diferent and a lot of their habits are more than quirks. It is rediculous for

the school to approach his thumb sucking like he was any other orally fixated

kid. Besides, if he was 3 and not in preschool no one would think it was wierd!

LOTS of 3 yr olds are thumb suckers!

I say try to work out a plan with the teachers for gradually working toward

helping him learn other comfort measures. And get that OT on the ball - this is

their job....for Pete's sake!!

Martha

Gene and Aggie Birocco <birocco@...> wrote:

My grandson is in his first year of preschool through the school

district. He is a brand new 3 year old and a thumb sucker but the school is not

allowing him to suck his thumb at school (recently). I realize that when he is

sucking his thumb he won't be able to do other things that he should be doing

and it discourages speech but he has significant sensory issues and is getting

school OT and private OT and private ST. They may be conserned about germs too I

guess, because what they say to discourage it is " Clean Hands. " Anyway, I didn't

mind as long as he didn't, but the last day he was at school he spent most of

the day crying and that is the way he comforts himself but he wasn't allowed to.

They did other things for him like hug, swing and the usual OT stuff but

apparently nothing worked. He even cried in the swing which he loves. Two things

happened that day...his aunt and uncle and their dog, who had been visiting for

the weekend, left that morning and he did

not have a bowl movement before school. He doesn't go at school anymore for

some reason, but he had one as soon as he came home. He doesn't have the speech

to tell anyone what his problems may be...his thumb may be his only comfort in

his mind away from home. I love the school and the teacher and other staff but I

am trying to look at it from his perspective. My children sucked their thumbs

and stopped when they were ready. No one, not even I, told them not to...all are

successful and well adjusted (I think) ). Should I be concerned? Aggie

----- Original Message -----

March 11, 2007

Aggie, Three of my 4 children were /are thumb suckers including my

almost 4 yr old aparaxic daughter. I know I would be livid if the

school tried to intervene without having some sort of plan withot

including me or discussing it with us. My 2 older children stopped at

3 yrs and 6 yrs only after I came up with a reward plan and some

other form of comfort with them. I am concerned about our daughters

thumb sucking because it is changing her palate and her front teeth

and maintaining the tongue thrust ,immature sucking pattern,which I'm

sure is impacting her articulation problems even more. BUT to say

it's for germ reasons, come on --All kids have some sort of germy

hands to mouth thing going on. I would talk to the school

psychologist and come up with some sort of agreeable plan if that's

what they want to do, but I would insist it keeps his well being in

mind and be very sensitive to providing him with alternative

comfort.I'd keep going up the ladder until I was fully comfortable

with the plan.—if I thought now is the best time to stop the thumb

sucking. Keep us posted! cheryl

> My grandson is in his first year of preschool through the

school district. He is a brand new 3 year old and a thumb sucker but

the school is not allowing him to suck his thumb at school

(recently). I realize that when he is sucking his thumb he won't be

able to do other things that he should be doing and it discourages

speech but he has significant sensory issues and is getting school OT

and private OT and private ST. They may be conserned about germs too

I guess, because what they say to discourage it is " Clean Hands. "

Anyway, I didn't mind as long as he didn't, but the last day he was

at school he spent most of the day crying and that is the way he

comforts himself but he wasn't allowed to. They did other things for

him like hug, swing and the usual OT stuff but apparently nothing

worked. He even cried in the swing which he loves. Two things

happened that day...his aunt and uncle and their dog, who had been

visiting for the weekend, left that morning and he did

> not have a bowl movement before school. He doesn't go at school

anymore for some reason, but he had one as soon as he came home. He

doesn't have the speech to tell anyone what his problems may be...his

thumb may be his only comfort in his mind away from home. I love the

school and the teacher and other staff but I am trying to look at it

from his perspective. My children sucked their thumbs and stopped

when they were ready. No one, not even I, told them not to...all are

successful and well adjusted (I think) ). Should I be concerned?

Aggie

>

> ----- Original Message -----

>

March 11, 2007

Hi Cheryl...I just finished a pretty long response to you and we had a power

failure before I could push send. I was rereading it to see how stupid it

was...maybe that was my answer. Basically it said....I will talk to her. She

may not be conserned about germs. That may be just what she says " clean hands "

because she may feel he can understand that. We probably should be concerned

about articulation because he has a slight overbite and I think his palate is a

little high. He hasn't seen a dentist yet....soon. That may be what she is

concerned about though but I don't know because she never mentioned it to me or

my daughter. I only heard her say " clean hands " and pull his thumb out of his

mouth. I didn't say anything at the time...just picked him up. My grandma

defense. She couldn't do that if I were holding him. I thought I needed some

time to digest it and talk to some people...and HIS MOTHER. I feel badly though

because I feel like he is going around being Not Understood, Misunderstood or

maybe just not even trying to communicate what he feels at school...and now no

thumb. We know the school psychologist because she taught my children physics

in highschool. We have a good relationship with her but we have never discussed

thumb sucking...It didn't come up in HS. ) They all stopped at around 6 and

by that time it was only at night. Thank you so much for the reply. The support

on this board is wonderful. I will let you know when I get the nerve up to talk

to her. Tomorrow I guess. Aggie

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