-----Original Message----- From: Carolyn Cockburn <carolyn.cockburn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [tri-med] Re: Some questions about fussiness and teeth grinding.... Ellie has always rocked herself back and forward on all fours since she began crawling (we call it "doing her exercises") and she then started making humming sounds while doing this which has slowly got louder and louder over the months. Carolyn, Mari rocks back & forth (lying on her back...rolling side to side) when she's tired or bored. I do think it's a sensory thing too. As Karen suggested, the brushing (Wilbarger's Protocol) does lessen this habit in Mari. we don't really notice it, it just drives us up the wall when it gets to the hysterical and loud stage. Mari loves to make noise when it's quiet...we blame that on being the youngest of four kids in a rather loud, active household. During preschool library time or school wide assemby time, Mari often takes it upon herself to "speak up" or "click her DAFO's" in an annoyingly disruptive way! It's bad, because we often "encourage" it by laughing or whispering to tell her to be quiet. I know we need to figure out an appropriate distraction....but haven't yet. The other idiosyncrasy she has recently developed is to point to the wall, frown, have a "conversation" with an invisible person/thing and then turn around to me and smile or laugh. It's cute but confusing too! Mari also does this & just like Debbie said with Claire, we'll often get a really big smile...I just tell people she must be talking to Jesus! I think I already commented that Pat (my husband) has smacked Mari when she grinds her teeth & she just laughs. The speech therapist has also started massaging the inside of her cheeks, which helps with the grinding...but is now encouraging more fingers in the mouth. She's making herself gag when she's bored too. I just ordered some "chewing" tools from a website: www.talktools.com. So, we'll see if any of them work. Chris (mama to Mari, full T18, dob 8/24/01) Tipp City, OH 45371 http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/misstippcity/my_photos http://home.earthlink.net/~loganfamily/id1.html http://www.benotafraid.net/story.asp?id=38 Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows www.trisomyonline.org Families Helping Families On-line