I need some advice to help deal with my sons compulsion to smell others feet... It is a true compulsion in that you can his whole body trying to not do it, but he asks everyone to take off their shoes and socks and then smells... It completely pre-occupies his thoughts whenever is over... And of course people including myself think it is weird and uncomfortable. He smells any barefoot he sees including in pictures... Nothing happens after, just generally moves on but might go back again later if… read more
Hi PandS my son went through a phase like this for a couple of years about touching and smelling feet. From what was explained to me and I later learned is that his feet were too sensitive to explore so he took to exploring others. I ended up creating social stories about feet and read it everyday. That was how we got him out of the phase. He still will acknowledge if there's pretty feet lol...but that's the extent.
@A MyAutismTeam Member that is how I try to be... Thanks for sharing, glad it worked out! It is definitely socially inappropriate
I have not encountered that but seems to me that it would fall in the category of socially inappropriate obsessions. I would suggest to discuss with a behavioral therapist about ways to abolish that tendency. They might try redirection, or substitution with another more acceptable behavior
Have you tried replacing this obsession with another. Something simular like scratch and sniff stickers.
My daughter loves essential oils! So, it's a rather good smelling obsession.