My son still at the age of 11 has a strong sensory seeking need to put things in his mouth. He uses a chewy daily & while it helps lessen him putting random things in his mouth, he still thinks it’s ok to put things in his mouth. It’s stressful having to be hyper vigilant constantly because he has put pebbles & even cat hair in his mouth. Thankfully he does understand not to swallow anything though & has never done so.

I believe it is both oral sensory seeking behavior & likely anxiety driven when a child does it excessively. I won’t sugar coat it, it can be very difficult to control this behavior because some of our kids can’t seem to stop doing it because it appears to be a strong need & or don’t understand the hazards. Hope this helps @A MyAutismTeam Member.

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A MyAutis...

Go look on Amazon and look up silicone chewies for kids. They have necklaces, different textured sticks, they’re great. Obviously don’t get anything with liquid in it, since he she has teeth. My son just turned 5, and we still have to watch him with everything. If it will fit in his mouth, it usually makes it there within the next 5 minutes lol. You could also look up recipes for edible play dough. All you have to do is show them to her, and let her have it; then any time she is chewing on something undesirable, gently tell her no, and immediately give her the chewy. Hopefully after a few days she will figure out that the chewies won’t be taken away, but everything does. It definitely sounds like an oral stimulation thing.

https://www.arktherapeutic.com/ark-y-chews/?gad...

Yes, my son puts more things than I would like in his mouth and sometimes licks the playground. It's gotten better some as he has gotten older. A chewy tube was really, really helpful for 2 or 3 years when we found the one that was the shape and texture he liked.

That was not meant to be rude, I promise. I didn’t mean to insinuate that you were doing something wrong. I didn’t see anything in your post, so I thought I’d give you a shout out if you didn’t know. I still have trouble with my son who just turned 5. He refuses pretty much every chewy I’ve bought him. He loves Play Doh, and still eats some of it almost every time he plays with it. Thank God it’s non toxic, and he’s never had any side effects. I haven’t yet found a fool proof method. You’re not alone.