Twisting as a nervous habit

[LowFlyingAnimals]

My dd seems to be predisposed to fidgeting and anxiety. She surely gets this from me.

She is twisting everything in sight. She wears her hair short because otherwise she twists bald spots into it. She twists tights until she gets a giant hole in them, then gets her hand or arm stuck in them. Her teacher has had to cut her out of her tights. I gave her some jewelry, but I guess her twisting became so disruptive in class that her teacher was worried she'd hurt herself.

Any ideas of something safe for her to twist or fidget with? Or a way to help her redirect her fidgeting to another outlet? Ideally this needs to be something she can do in school without causing too much disruption.

[Lovenest]

I have no idea what could help.
My son does the hair twisting, he is 4.5 years old.
He has long hair, well for a boy. Its about shoulder length and he gets knots as well.

[LynnS6]

Occupational Therapists use a range of kinds of things that might fit your dd's needs Pocket Full of Therapy is a site with a lot of cool stuff like this:
Stretchy String
Fiddle Sticks (it's the second one down on this page)
Squeeze Balls
Tangles of various sorts

You might also want to look at Raising a Sensory Smart Child - it's got some good ideas for things to do at home - this is essentially a sensory need, and if you can meet that, you've gone a long ways to helping her self soothe.

[KaraBoo]

Lynn, what a great site! I just found some things for my daughter, who likes to chew on things. We're hoping to find something that will save her shirtsleeves LOL

[Brigianna]

If her hair is long enough, braid it into two French braids so she can twist and pull to her heart's content without risk of pulling it out or getting her fingers caught. This is what my parents did for me when I was a little hair-twister.

[LowFlyingAnimals]

Wow! That site is great, Lynn. There are even whole kits that are described as for fidgety kids and to not cause distractions in school! There's so much to look at, I'll have to focus on it with her some and see what might work best. It's nice to know that this isn't completely unheard of.

She has recently started work with OT for fine motor delays and has always had severe language delays, so there might be something to the sensory aspect too. She's always been a little sensory seeking in her behavior.

Unfortunately, Brigianna, her hair is not long at all. We originally cut it when she had bald spots last year, and she wanted to cut it. The bald spots are gone, but she now insists on "shortcuts" and points to the wedge cut, so she has no hair. She does look stinkin' cute, though.

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by LowFlyingAnimals

She has recently started work with OT for fine motor delays and has always had severe language delays, so there might be something to the sensory aspect too. She's always been a little sensory seeking in her behavior.

OK, I didn't post this with your first post because I feel like I'm ALWAYS saying this on these boards, but given your additional information, I would STRONGLY encourage you to have her assessed for Sensory Processing Disorder (aka Sensory Integration Disorder), if you haven't already. Getting these sensory issues addressed can really help overall learning - instead of focusing on their unmet sensory needs, they can focus on learning.

Does she have a diagnosis for her language delays? Sometimes that can be a motor planning issue, which is related to SPD.

Two good books are:
Sensational Kids by Lucy Miller and
The Out of Sync Child

Some good websites are:

http://www.kidfoundation.org/what/spd.html
http://www.kidfoundation.org/ (there are links here to find an OT if your insurance will pay for outside OTs)
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/
http://www.sensorysmarts.com/

I know about Pocket Full of Therapy because our son is in OT for Sensory Processing Disorder, and he's really come a long way. He had fine motor delays and some balance/bilateral coordination issues.