Oral Motor Sensory Seeking Behaviors: Why Children engage in them and strategies to meet children’s oral motor needs.
Oral Motor Sensory Seeking Behaviors: Why Children engage in them and strategies to meet children’s oral motor needs.
By Lea Altea Winnen October 1, 2024
When my oldest son experiences moments of high stress, he will engage in oral motor sensory-seeking behaviors. He does this to calm himself. He will chew on his shirt, put rocks in his mouth, engage in oral vibrations (spitting and raspberries), and make noises with his mouth. On occasion, He will lick or bite random things. This is his brain’s way of saying. “Dude, I am stressed out!” Stress can come in many forms for kiddos who experience these types of sensory-seeking behaviors. Going through mild to massive transitions, being tired or hungry, and even someone telling them, “No”, can trigger these behaviors.
At first, as his parent, I was a little annoyed by the different surfacing behaviors. In particular, the licking and chewing made me a little grossed out. When he put things into his mouth, I was afraid that he would choke or crack his teeth. I attempted to take most of it in stride. I have been working on redirecting his oral motor sensory-seeking behaviors or trying to give him alternatives to help the urge when he needs to engage in them. Having worked with children with these issues, I know that they surface due to dysregulation of the sensory systems within the body and brain. Dysregulation is basically when the body falls out of balance with its internal or external regulating systems and then the individual struggles to self-regulate. According to the online book, Dysregulated Behavior in kids: The Guide to Supporting Self-regulation on the website Dr.Roseann.com, “The brain is responsible for processing and regulating emotions, and when this system is disrupted, emotional dysregulation can occur. Dysregulated children may have difficulty with emotional self-regulation, leading to difficulties in attention, behavior, and social interactions.”
Let’s go over an example of what dysregulation might look like within the body and how it triggers the sensory systems. Emotional dysregulation is a heightened emotional state of any kind that can create an imbalance. An example of this could be as a way of coping with feeling scared in a crowded space a child may begin to chew on their shirt. Even to the point where they can leave holes. My son engaged in this when we moved to Italy. Not only did we move to another country and live with new people. His mother was highly stressed, which he sensed, his father was away, and he had started at a new school with people who didn’t speak his language. With all these transitions and in addition to other behaviors he was engaging in, he chewed on every one of his shirts until he left holes in a majority of them. He also chewed on blankets, napkins, towels, pillows, and stuffed toys. He was licking and chewing on the corners of the table or the bedframe.
One of the techniques I used to combat his chewing behavior is I used something called “chewies”. I used them when I was an occupational therapy assistant working with special needs kiddos in the school system. For children who had this oral motor behavior, I gave them these chewies as an alternative to chewing on other items or surfaces. It helped to meet my son’s oral motor needs to chew and assisted him in calming his heighten emotional state. If you have an interest in these tools, you can find them in different shapes, colors, and styles on Amazon. Here are some examples:
· Sensory Chew Necklaces https://a.co/d/h7Z65Tm
· Oral Motor Chew Tool https://a.co/d/i0V77OM
· Spikey Sensory Ring https://a.co/d/8FcKOqo
Notes: You can also look under “Chewie Sensory Kids”, then just choose what you think is best.
Other strategy for helping a kiddo with these types of oral motor sensory seeking behaviors would be to: (1) giving them gummy bears, sour candies, chewing gum, or lollipops (2) have them engage in blowing bubbles with a bubble wand, (3) blow painting using a straw with paint on paper, or other blowing activities/games, (4) chewy or crunchy snacks, such as chips or granola bars, and (5) drinking milk, water, or other liquids from a straw. For more ideas check out the article, Strategies for Oral and Motor/Sensorimotor Input on the website www.nspt4kids.com.
My son still struggles with his oral motor sensory seeking, as do many other children, but getting annoyed or frustrated with them will not solve this problem. Understanding that they lack the emotional self-regulation tools and strategies to calm themselves in normal ways do to developwill go a long way into soothing parent and child interactions. Having alternatives to assist your kiddos in meeting their moments of dysregulation with some of the techniques listed above can bring a sense of peace for them and for you.
Sources:
Strategies for Oral and Motor/Sensorimotor Input - North Shore Pediatric Therapy (nspt4kids.com)
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