• Understanding Autism from the Inside

    “Academics came easily to me. The rest of life—not so much.”
  • This post may contain affiliate links and we may earn compensation when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.

Autism and Pica: Is this the next stop along the line with the Tot?

pica Pica is the craving and consumption of non-food, non-nutritional items, and is often associated with autism.  Many autistic children at one point or another develop Pica or pica-like tendencies. A few common items that children with Pica eat include dirt, plaster, chalk, paint, sand. glue, feces, coffee grinds, clay, toothpaste, buttons, and paper. As you can see some items can be more harmful than others.

This weekend Hubby and I were putting up a chair rail and building wainscoting in the dining (now converted to my office). The Tot grabbed a small scrap piece of chair rail molding and said, “Mommy, look.  It’s a cookie.” Then he proceeded to take a bite out of the wood molding.

“No, no, that is not a cookie.  Give it to me; spit it out.” 

The Tot gulped and said, “You’re toooooo late,” (thank you very much Swiper the Fox,) “It’s gone.”

It was quite comical, and since he was being silly I didn’t think much of it, that is, until today.  Earlier Tantrum Tot starting biting and chewing a foam handle off one of his toys. I took it from him, and he did not take that well, but I can’t just let him eat the foam.  He managed to bite off every piece of that foam and tried to eat it! 

A little while later he went out on our back patio, where I’d set up a little plastic kiddy pool for him to “fish” in. I caught him dipping another remnant of our molding project in the pool and eating it—not good. Later, he was chewing on more plastic toys, and just now, eating a pencil.  Now, I am concerned. 

Aspie Teen was always a chewer. To this day he chews on his sleeves, and shirt collars, which drives his father nuts, and tends to chew on the seatbelt in the car, but I don’t remember him really eating non-edible items.  The Tot, however, began with toothpaste, which I just attributed to the yummy bubble-gum flavor.

I am not sure if I should be alarmed yet, or if he is truly developing Pica because it has only been a few days. (Technically for this to be considered “Pica” it must persist for at least one month.) I will need to keep a close eye on this new behavior over the next few week. Just another thing to add to the long list of things to stress about going into this summer vacation.

Jeannie Davide-Rivera

Jeannie is an award-winning author, the Answers.com Autism Category Expert, contributes to Autism Parenting Magazine, and the Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. She lives in New York with her husband and four sons, on the autism spectrum.

3 Comments:

  1. I always chewed on pencils as a child, I licked glue because I didn’t like it dripping after using it, I used to put sand in my mouth because I liked hearing the sound of it, I still put things in my mouth but I don’t really eat it. I never had. I wouldn’t say I have this eating disorder because I don’t consume it and I don’t think it causes me any problems. Mine look more like habits.

    My mom is a nail biter and my son also chews his skin around his finger nails. I bite my nails but only to trim them or when they break.

  2. Although I’m NT myself (my son is an Aspie) god knows I have (and especially had growing up) many tendencies similar to those on the spectrum. Pica was one.

    Paper? Oh yes, I was an inveterate paper-chewer.

    Pencils? I hardly had a pencil that wasn’t covered in toothmarks. Pens? Same.

    Fingernails? I chew them to this day.

    Shirt collars? If I could reach them, they’d be chewed on.

    And… well, let’s just say “and worse”. I didn’t go in for rocks or dirt though.

    Most kids, though, go through phases where everything goes in the mouth, and it disappears quickly. Hopefully Tot abandons this fun new game (and look at the reactions it gets from Mum!) as quickly as it started…

  3. :O maybe that explains a few incidents around here. i NEVER even THOUGHT about it. eating toothpaste. even called poison control. i cant think of anything else like that … but that doesnt mean it hasnt happened it just means i forgot. i have seen him chewing his sheet..

Comments are closed

  • Autism Family Travels at Passportsandpushpins.com

    [instagram-feed]