Hi everyone,
I am currently working with a 5 1/2 year old, preschool child who is extremely oral. He is constantly putting objects in his mouth. His mother says that he used to suck his thumb incessantly and after a tremendous amount of verbal cuing and band aid wearing, he no longer does this. I have noticed that he tends to suck his sleeve instead (or anything else he may be holding). I want to begin some form of oral motor program but have little experience in this department, does anyone have any suggestions? In addition, my concerns are that I do not want to simply transfer this habit into another one. Typically, is there a specific underlying cause for these behaviors that could be addressed more directly?
Thank you for your help,
OT from North Jersey

Hi!

Sounds familiar! What is the child's cognitive ability? It may be his developmental level of exploration or just that he is  a big oral craver. While verbal cuing and band aid wearing are good behavioural techniques to curb the behaviour which affects development of other skills (fine motor) in this case, it would be useful  to offer him oral motor toys which give him the opportunity to suck, chew, lick ( teethers, vibrating rings, chewy tubes etc.) Since the child needs the oral input, he should get it in some productive form so that he has the input for it for a scheduled time and he can then focus his attention on other tasks. I would love others to suggest more /comment as I've very much learned on the job.