problem with ears

evskal

My 28 yr old son has severe intellectual disability.Some years ago he developed a habit of putting things in his ears,everything from paper to apple seeds,in fact anything that will fit in.He gets lots of ear infections and then has to be treated with antibiotics.When things get really bad he has to have a general anaesthetic and have everything removed and so the cycle begins all over again.It is now a learnt behaviour and impossible to break him of it.I would really appreciate if anybody could give any advice.Thanks

LadyMayBelle

Hi Evskal.

I have worked on and off with a young person who from the ages 24-27 continually pushed toilet paper/paper/string/wool/lego up their nose and sometimes ears. Parents wre distraught, and just as you say, used to have to help fight infections and at times against their wishes, hold her while the other pulled the bits out. Very distressing for all to be sure.

Everything was tried. Yes, turned out she was bored. But on the flip side, she hated being asked to do anything, and when the slightest bit stressed popped things up there again. It came down , to supervision, distraction, which helped a bit, but then one doctor who seemed keen on the case, discovered the girls had been suffering with her teeth; which led to the reluctance to demands and the obsessive behaviour. AFAIK she had a lot of her teeth removed as they had gone kinda bad, but it helped her in the long run.

So all I would suggest is get a second, a third a fourth opinion, medically. If your son doesn't communicate in a way that he can clearly express where he has pain etc, maybe you know your son best on this one

Distraction. And maybe has someone looked at why he likes things in his ears. You mentioned it's a learned behaviour, but is it that his surroundings are noisy, has he always liked things near his ears etc? Would he enjoy the sensation of headphones or something? Are there items or textures he likes to hold, that may distract him?

It' a tricky one, and I guess you have already spoken to his care team? Love to hear how it works out. All I can say is thay any case I have helped on, things took a long while to change, and involved lots of creative ideas!

evskal

Hi,Thank you for your advice.I would agree with you that the habit most likely began out of boredom/lack of stimulation.A dislike of noise has also been mentioned but I don't agree and I think I know him better.We try to limit what he can access to put his ears as much as posssible but when nothing else is available he pulls threads out of what he is wearing and puts them in his ears.Sometimes if he wakes during the night he will pull the lining from his diaper and use that.Because of his intellectual disability it is very difficult to explain the damage he is doing even though he is cute enough to know we disapprove.If you have any other ideas I would be glad to hear them.Thanks again.

LadyMayBelle

Sure thing Evskal. Agreed again, you know him best

You mentioned he pulls he fabric from his diaper, again thats one thing we haven't quite fiuired out just yet either! We'd removed towels, and threadbare clothes from around the house and put them somewhere out of sight as they were often a target.

Has a psychologist been able to offer and insight/alternatives? It's such a tricky situtaion as he may be gettign some comfort from the habit but for you guys it's a nightmare!

Will

Hiya,

If your son is autistic it may be that he likes the feeling/sensation that he gets from inserting small objects into his ears. As you said it is a learned behaviour, it will be very difficult to stop this specially if he doesn't want to. So instead of fighting it maybe go with it and look into trying to get a lil vibrating wand that is made in such a way that it can only go into his ear a certain length? So basically it would have a small lil nib on it so it won't do any damage to him.

Another option is to try substitute it with something more suitable, there are cushions you can get from occupational therapists called something like 'positive feedback cushions'. They're normal cushions with a vibrating centre that activate when pressure is applied. So if you think he is going to insert something into his ear maybe offer him the pillow as an alternative to it. Can be placed behind his head or even to his ear and pressure applied, then the mechanism will kick in and start to vibrate hopefully giving him the same sensation he gets from putting objects in his ears.

They're just two solutions off the top of my head
Hope this helps

T-Square

Buy the kid earplugs?

evskal

Not as simple as earplugs!!We actually did try them and would you believe he removed them.Obviously you cannot leave earplugs in indefinitely,so they would only be a quick fix anyway.

evskal

Thanks for your help.Never heard of the vibrating wand.It's something that can be discussed with his care team.

Will

I've used them before, more so a pen really with usually an animal on the top, our most current one is a crocodile which has a long snout which is used to gently go over a persons body to help them concentrate more on external sensations