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Special Needs
malcivar
member
Mouth issues
malcivar
member
I ask because Chris never displayed any major sensory issues. He was ok in noisy places - didn't have a problem being touched/held - no problems being wet or messy but suddenly that's all changing mostly related to his mouth. He puts up a fierce fight every morning when it comes to brushing his teeth. Depending on whose turn it is, DH or I literally have to wrestle with him to brush his teeth - forget him even trying. It's an all out brawl - we have to bear hug him and then try to get it done as quickly as possible - the whole time him fussing like it hurts. At first we thought tooth sensitivity but he doesn't have any problems eating different food textures and has no problems eating cold things. He's always had a problem with hot food so we haven't noticed a difference there.
Today he fought the tongue depressor at the doctor and later slapped my mom's hand away when she was trying to give him his medicine. He's never given us any problems on that front either until now.
Any ideas as to how I can get to the root of the problem and how to work through it?
I asked his OT but she wasn't very helpful - just said not to force it or to let him try holding the toothbrush. Problem is as soon as he sees it, he throws himself onto the floor and curls up into a ball. And he needs to brush his teeth and he has to take his medicine - it's not like it's 2 things we can just let go, you know?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Mouth issues
That sounds similar to our three year old. I have to agree with PP, I think it's toddler stuff, not necessarily special needs (although I'm really not sure, I was lurking the board to see about swallowing problems on my littlest one, which is our only special needs concern).
DS3 was TERRIBLE about brushing teeth right around when he turned two. FI had always just forced him into it, so the whole thing was associated with tears/ screaming/ fighting. Put yourself in his shoes.... how would you like someone holding you down and shoving something funny tasting into your mouth? Not cool. And I'd cry too.
We started to make it silly. Make a game out of it. I re-named it... something about giving normal tasks or objects silly names does wonders for that boy. Instead of brushing teeth, I started to call it tickling teeth. I told him that the toothbrush needed to tickle each tooth to get it nice and clean. I let him feel the toothbrush, and the soft tickley bristles. And I told him we had to laugh along with his very ticklish teeth. So we fake laughed, I made silly noises and said "Ticky ticky ticky those teeth!!!" and he stopped being so upset about it.
He also liked to watch me brush his teeth in the mirror. To see exactly what's going on helped. Another thing we did was get him a power tooth brush. He loves turning it on himself. And it's got Thomas the Train on it, who he was totally obsessed with at the time.
Maybe some sort of reward afterwards? A sticker? A little army man toy (you can get a decent sized pack at the dollar store)? So that he can start associating the routine with something positive...
Wow, sorry for writing like a novel here.... but one last thing, DS doesn't like things sprung on him. If he's playing, and I say "now it's time to brush teeth and get ready for bed!" he will freak out every single time. I need to give him like a 5 min warning, 2, and 1. Then he's mentally prepared for stopping whatever activity he's in.