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Question???

Elizabeth O's picture
Posted August 17th, 2009 by Elizabeth O

If I wasn't his mother and instead I was a researcher I would be totally fascinated by what Chase is doing.  At 4 Chase has started holding his hands in fists and tucking his thumb underneath his fingers.  Now I know this is not unheard of, but the interesting part is that his brother did it for quite some time and started doing it close to the same age.  Nathan got so bad he couldn't eat... because he refused to open his hands.  He would move things around with his fists.  And of course it was total meltdown if he was forced to open his hands.  He acted like he was in extreme pain.  It started slowly like Chase is doing now.  I remember finally reading something that made sense.  But, I have forgotten the explanation.  His teacher finally helped Nathan overcome it by putting stickers on his thumbs, which was a feat in itself.  And it was a very long process.  I wonder if anyone out there knows beyond that is probably just a sensory issue (which is a fair assumption) what is happening?


It's more common in Cerebral

seebert's picture
On August 18th, 2009 seebert says:

It's more common in Cerebral Palsy than in autism, but knowing my own Sensory Perception problems, I think there is a possibility that his nerves are misfiring and that he IS in pain.

Chronic Pain problems are one of the potential real causes of autistic withdrawal.

Very interesting. My oldest

Elizabeth O's picture
On August 20th, 2009 Elizabeth O says:

Very interesting. My oldest son has PVL. His gray matter was damaged - not to the extent that he actually has Cerebral Palsy, but enough he didn't sit up until he was over 12 months and didn't walk at all until 22 months... My younger son has not had an MRI, he does have epilepsy though. In our case there may be a connection. Thank you for that information.
I am glad you let me know about the pain. I wondered if he was hurting. He seemed to be. Just not all the time. Which might be explained by the amount or intensity of misfirings that vary across situations.

I'm just going on my own

seebert's picture
On August 21st, 2009 seebert says:

I'm just going on my own problems- which may or may not be relevant.

A constant, low level of pain is with me most days. On the really bad days, it turns into migraines.

One of the relaxation

Perz's picture
On August 18th, 2009 Perz says:

One of the relaxation techniques we used with my son was to encourage him to squeeze a ball or a bean bag in his hand. He finds it does help him alleviate tension and I do notice that he will do the same sort of clenching and unclenching motion when he's really stressed (without holding anything in his hands). It usually only takes a couple of pumps before he relaxes and is calm. I think he keeps his thumbs on the outside, though. Perhaps your son might find squeezing a ball or bean bag soothing similar to the way mine did.

My son does the same thing.

matuboys's picture
On August 17th, 2009 matuboys says:

My son does the same thing. He is 3 1/2. If I tell him to have "calm hands" he will open them up but generally walks around with tight fists. I am very interested to see what others have to say and suspect it is sensory related.

My kids don't do it but Iv'e

drheave's picture
On August 18th, 2009 drheave says:

My kids don't do it but Iv'e tried doing a few things like it to see if i could possibly feel what they feel. spinning around in circles...wieghtlessness is the best description for my arms but my head was a whole different story. I think when a child tucks in his thumbs there is presure on the pads and fingernails of the thumbs. I would wonder if those thumb braces or wraps would encourage your child to lossen his hold on his thumbs. there are ABA programs that would help i think its through rethinkautism.com. i hope this helps.