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Autism/6 year old autistic grandson with behavior problems

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Expert: - 7/30/2008


Question
My 6 year old grandson this summer has started playing with his saliva extensively. He strings it out from his mouth.  What is causing this and how can we stop it.  He has been medically checked.

Also he is digging in his anal area which is causing him to have extensive bowel movements.  He starts in the afternoon and it is more frequent when he is outside in the yard.  Again what is causing this and how can we stop it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

Answer
Hi Linda,

sorry I cannot really answer this question. Playing with his salvia might just be that: play. He might not realize that other people might find that somewhat gross. I do not think this is a medical problem. He might enjoy how it feels when he does it.
I don't know if offering him something else with a stringy/wet texture would help(though I don't know what that could be (play-doh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play-Doh or a homemade variant http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/play-doh4.htm or even cold spaghetti(sp?) noodles or something).
His other problem might point to a medical problem though. He might dig in his anal area because something there makes him uncomfortable, or he even tries to induce bowel movements on purpose by doing this. He might have bowel problems and be in pain or feel horribly bloated and wants to get rid of it. As people with autism often have food allergies you could check this out, and most of all go and ask your doctor about it and have his digestive system checked.
I don't know how to stop this, but a first step should be ruling out serious health problems and allergies/sensitivities to certain foods.

I hope this helps

C.

Autism

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*DISCLAIMER*

Please note I am not a healthcare professional or a doctor.
I cannot provide a diagnosis or give any medical advice.
Therefore I cannot answer questions like "is my child autistic ?" other than by telling you to go and see a specialist
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Please be aware that if you are in the US it will usually take at least 24 hours until I can answer your question, as I'm in Europe and don't have access to my email during the day. I also cannot answer questions concerning the US educational or law system (other than by looking up things on google, but that's probably not the expertise you need), as I'm not in the US.
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Please also be aware that I'm a person with autism. My answers may sometimes be very blunt and direct and I may tell you things you won't like to hear. Diplomacy is certainly not among my talents. I'm never being rude on purpose, and I always try not to hurt or offend people, but it has happened before and may happen again. It's NEVER on purpose. I just want to help.
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What I *can* do for you is gather information on any aspect of autism and therapy of autism you're interested in and give you my personal oppinion about it (if you want to hear it) or, if it applies, tell you about my personal experience. I can answer all questions about what life is like for an autistic person.

I can also answer questions asked in German or French (but will have to answer in English to questions asked in French as my French is a bit rusty).

Ich beantworte gerne auch Fragen auf Deutsch.

Vous pouvez poser des questions en Francais, si cela ne vous dérange pas que je responds en anglais.

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As I'm not doing well right now and am not in the shape of answering questions well - I recieved a few low ratings lately - I'll take a break from AllExperts for the next few weeks/until I'm doing better

I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.

In the past years I have also read a lot about autism and its comorbid conditions and related subjects (as I am experiencing symptoms of most of these or know others who do) , so I have accumulated a lot of layman knowledge in this area (AD(H)D, Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, sleep disorders, allergies, sensory integration dysfunction, learning difficulties, left/right-brain, giftedness, Irlen Syndrome, prism glasses, executive dysfunction (aka. "inertia"), "special" diets).

Education/Credentials
None in the field of autism, apart from being autistic myself !

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