Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 10/10/2010

Question
My 10 yr old Asperger son has recently started having problems with saliva pooling in his mouth.  He does not drool but will let collect in his mouth and then will run to the bathroom and spit out.  He will spit on the floor, desk, room, anywhere to empty his mouth.  This happens all day long!  When out, he does not do it as much or not at all.  He has this problem before but it went away within 2 wks.  He does have a high amount of sensory, anxiety, and frustration. The speech therapist said his tongue muscles are weak but that does not explain why this began all of a sudden. I don't even know how to work on this or treat this! He says he does not swallow because his spit taste bad.  Everything now involves bad taste of things.  Even taking his prescribed meds and supplements.  I am at my wits end.

Answer
I'm wondering if his meds are causing a sour taste or reflux in his mouth.

But that said, our kids do get OCD's pretty frequently and now I am sure this is one as well.

You are going to have to deal with this problem two ways:

1. find out if his meds are causing him to have reflux which is common from the meds our kids take. This would certainly taste yucky. If this is the case, ask your Dr to presribe a medication for the reflux.

2. start dealing with this behaviorally. Tell him he can spit 5 times a day to begin with and chart it on a large index card. If he sticks with the 5, he earns a sticker. At the end of the week, if he has at least 5 stickers (meaning he was compliant for at least 5 out of the 7 days), he earns a reward.

After about 3 weeks, change it to only allowing him to spit 4 times a day. Then go down to 3 and so on and so forth


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