Kids with autism usually have problems with picky eating and sometimes can have other
oral motor problems such as teeth grinding (bruxism) and teeth grinding can be particularly challenging
because it can be medical and/or behavioral Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Barbera, autism mom, board
certified behavior analyst, online course creator and bestselling author of The Verbal
Behavior Approach.
Each week I provide you with some of my ideas about turning autism around so if you haven't
subscribed to my YouTube channel you can do that now.
Today I'm sharing a small excerpt from one of my question and answer live Q and A calls
discussing what you can do for teeth grinding and picky eating in kids with autism.
This woman has a almost 3 year old who uh, has teeth grinding and also, uh, very picky
eating.
He has feeding problems.
He drinks just milk formula from the bottle and eats 1 special cookie and they are on
a waiting list for feeding specialist and she's just wondering what to do in the meantime.
We've got an almost 3 year old, a global developmental delay, teeth grinding and extremely picky
eating.
So I did answer her and um, part of my answer is teeth grinding, um, actually can be a medical
issue or have a medical component to it.
I am not really familiar with all the research on it, but, uh, if I were you, I would look
into vitamin and mineral deficiencies that can actually, I believe lead to teeth grinding,
it can lead to, um, the desire to like chomp on ice and those sorts of things.
It can also be a habit obviously with teeth grinding, um, which I didn't mention, but
uh, could be teething like molars coming in could be pain.
There's just a lot of things going on.
It could just be self stimulatory behavior because the child is not being stimulated
enough.
So he's just drinking out of a milk formula out of a bottle so it could be the failure
to transition to regular chewing and regular, um, drinking out of an open cup, drinking
through a straw.
These are all developmental, uh, things that typically developing kids progress up.
So there's just a whole lot of things that, uh, could be at play here.
One of the things I would do is I do have a video blog and a cheat sheet on weaning
from the pacifier and bottle.
And I also have a video blog on picky eating and it can really be a diagnosable feeding
problem that you are going to need.
You know, uh, a feeding program at a, usually the feeding programs that I'm familiar with
are at hospitals, children's hospitals, teaching hospitals, and they will have feeding programs,
usually in the behavioral, psychological and you know, sometimes they're run by behavior
analysts like in the case of Hershey Medical Center.
Um, and then children's hospital, I think it's run by more of the psychology department,
but you may need, um, real feeding, a structured feeding program.
But in the meantime, I would, uh, read that, that cheat sheet on weaning from bottles and
pacifiers.
I would look at the video blog resources that I just mentioned.
Um, I also did a podcast with Dr. Michael Murray on, um, medication use and medical
issues.
There's a thing we talk about with doctor, when I talk about with Dr. Murray, the zinc
to copper ratio is sometimes messed up in kids and they might need like zinc supplementation
for instance.
So obviously it's, it's a more complicated thing than just saying, give them a chewy
tube, which that might be what you need to do in the short term.
You know, I would also look at patterns like, is there times when your child is not grinding
their teeth?
Like, oh, well, if he's in the pool, he's not grinding, or if we're at the playground,
he's not grinding, or if he's eating, he's not grinding.
Um, and look for areas of the day when he's super engaged, maybe he's not grinding.
Um, does he have any language because language is kind of an incompatible behavior to teeth
grinding.
So the more he talks, the less he'll grind.
Maybe it is a pain or a molar issue.
Have you gone to the dentist?
That would be something I would look at.
Um, he could have, you know, cavities or abscesses or, god forbid, you know, something else going
on with his teeth.
So, uh, lots of things rolled into that question, so I thought it was a good one for me to,
to cover a little bit.
I hope you enjoyed this short snippet.
Wherever you're watching this, I'd love it if you would leave me a comment, give me a
thumbs up, share this video with others who may benefit.
And for more information, you can attend a free online workshop at marybarbera.com/workshop.
And I'll see you right here next week.