I support a young autistic man, who also has a learning disability and Prada Willi syndrome. He lives with Mum and Dad, who are amazing, as is the young man. I'm going to call him B in the community.
B does not have speech.
B has pica, which is a both related to his autism and Prada Willi. He also has many sensory differences.
B wears pull up pads, but unfortunately also eats large parts of them that he pulls off. This has caused great problems with his bowels and sadly self harming, because he is in so much pain when the pulled off parts of pad obstruct his bowel. We have recently had to take B to hospital for this very reason.
This happens mainly at night when he is in bedroom alone, obviously Mum and Dad can't be with him all the time. He also pulls out and eats his hair, from anywhere on his body. The surgical registrar he saw thought he may have a bezoar, which he didn't. I've only mentioned this to give a picture of the extent of B's pica.
We would desperately love to find something that gives B the same sensory experience that he has from eating his pads, but that doesn't cause him harm. All the usual 'indestructible' chew items, chewelry and similar, B manages to eat. He also eats clothing, including gloves, so wearing these would not help. We have also thought about alternative pads, but feel the ones he wears are best for his continence needs and also don't believe there is an alternative type.
I feel an OT sensory assessment maybe helpful, but Mum has been down this route previously without a solution, we are certainly not expecting a quick fix.
Talking to parents is often a great way of gathering ideas, so fingers crossed 
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