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7 years old never gets tired and eats with his fingers

sturry

My son is now 7 and was diagnosed last year as being on the spectrum. I found this is the only place to get any answers to the small daily things that go on. My son sadly finds it difficult to sit for long periods of time. i.e. watching a film- he uncontrollably has to twitch, move, run around the room whilst making a tsss tsss sound he knows it can irritate others and sometimes will leave the room to do this or wants us to leave if he is the one who put the film on first so that he can continue to do his run around in peace. Or we have to ignore it and let him get on with it knowing in 10 mins or so he will sit down again for another 20mins or if there is a particular exciting part in the film.

any tips from anybody with similar problem would be appreciated.

Also eating habits or rather table manners around usual family members is very bad always eating with his fingers. Yet if we have a quest he will attempt to use his knife and fork but clearly struggles as he is not use to it, yet, he can use them slowly and clumsily. any tips on how to encourage more useage. we have tried different size cutlery but it makes no difference and he does like spoons.

  • There are some textured (rubber spikes) cushions that some children have, it can help to ground them and stay in a seated position. It could be a sensory issue.....you could try asking for a refferal

     

    Good luck

  • sturry said:

    Also eating habits or rather table manners around usual family members is very bad always eating with his fingers. Yet if we have a quest he will attempt to use his knife and fork but clearly struggles as he is not use to it, yet, he can use them slowly and clumsily. any tips on how to encourage more useage. we have tried different size cutlery but it makes no difference and he does like spoons.

    Hi Sturry,

    I am aged 39 and still don't use the back of the fork to put my food on. I think it is much more secure to use it like a spoon. I do quite like to scoop the spoon away from me though when eating soup. How would you like your son to eat? What in your view is the 'proper' way to eat food?

    Do you think you can change your son's behaviour? If so, to what extent?

    Smile

  • hi - does he have a problem with fine motor skills at all?  I was wondering if it's just because he's not used to using cutlery, but when you mentioned his pencil as well?  Sorry if I'm barking up the wrong tree.  How wd he be with using just a fork to start off with. Obviously he wd need a knife sometimes, unless his food was cut up beforehand but it might get him used to that particular cutlery item.  You cd take it from there.  Watching the tv - we got a tv/dvd for my son to use in his room!  1 of us wd spend some time there with him whilst he was watching a fav show + explain things to him that he didn't understand.  Video helped him enormously in many ways : language, enjoyment + because it wasn't easy for him to follow even a short sequence of events, he cd replay, frame by frame until he understood.  This delighted him (+ us).  

  • Whilst we realise we cannot do much about his problem I was hoping somebody would be able to offer some tips on how to cope with the small problems. As parents some days do become difficult.

    As for his eating habits I thought there may be some kind of special cutlery that we could purchase to encourage him in being able to manage handling items such as a knife or fork or scissors and pens.

    We currently use a sit and move cushions at the table which helps with him being able to sit with us a little bit longer than he would normally. And use smaller pencils to help him with his grip when writing at school along with a fidget pencil top which helps him to concentrate in class.

    While it may seem petty about his eating habit We see it as being linked with other areas in his life. just letting him get on with it we find wont help him with other things in his life. For Every small issue there usually is a small solution which helps him and us.

     

     

  • Re: the running around: you answered this one yourself:

    "ignore it and let him get on with it knowing in 10 mins or so he will sit down again for another 20mins or if there is a particular exciting part in the film"

    Stop thinking of it as a problem, and just learn to live with it.


    Similarly, does it really matter if he never learns to eat with a knife and fork?