Nail biting

by Theresa
(Jackson)

My 4 year old granddaughter with SPD has started biting her nails. What can you do to distract help her stop doing it





Comments for Nail biting

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Jul 08, 2017
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		SPD and nail biting
by: Lee K

I know this is an old thread.

I already commented on a related trichotillomania thread.

I do not believe that these are "impulse control disorders", "tic disorders" or "self-harm".

I think they are a natural response to the feeling that something foreign is attached to your body.

When I have long hair, it feels like I have pieces of tape hanging off of my skull. Who wouldn't want to remove them?

Similarly, fingernails and toenails feel like dead appendages which are hanging off of my body, and they project forces from my environment in ways which give ambiguous sensory signals. When I get a signal from my fingers, I can't pinpoint it because it's all a projection from nerveless fingernails. I have "sensory impatience" in trying to figure out the source of the stimulus. If my fingernails were 100% removed (which I've considered doing by myself, since I doubt many doctors would support such elective surgery), then every stimulus would be traceable to its true point of origin, and wouldn't be confounded by the projections of a nerveless hanging body part.
May 09, 2014
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		seeking or organizing?
by: Anonymous

Whats the difference between seeking and organzing?
Jan 07, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		anxiety?
by: Anonymous

has she had any changes in her little four year old life lately? some children grow out of certain behaviors and take on other ones to replace them. my son has mild spd and for a long time flapped his hands. we worked on that for a long time and it was replaced with nail biting. it serves a purpose for him. it's an outlet. and it's actually more acceptable than waving your hands around and in other people's faces, so i didn't make an issue of it and it went away. it did also start around the time he began preschool, the nail biting, but it has subsided. chose your battles, especially with kids with spd. :)
Jan 06, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Seeking or Organizing?
by: Anonymous

How would you do that? They've stopped OT with her.
Jan 05, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		oral motor
by: Anonymous

Gum chewing, vibrating toothbrush, whistles, blow toys, paint her nails,stress balls. It must be determined of it is a seeking behavior or an organizing behavior.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to The SPD Q & A.