I have one this year and it just grosses me out to no end. I've verbally chastised the girl and told her how nasty it was for her to put her dirty thumb in her mouth and how she spreads germs everywhere she touches afterward. I get the sheebie weebies just thinking about grading her papers. And, I have a touch of germaphobia to start with! Knowing the H1N1 is going around doesn't help either. I can deal with a lot of issues but this is just one makes my skin crawl. Anyone have any suggestions?
I can tell you from experience, negative reinforcement will not work and actually only ingrains the thumb sucking. You are going to have to find something positive to replace it, something the child will want more and therefore try for. I've seen a friend on mine and his wife working with their son and he gets weekly rewards for not sucking his thumb as well as wearing thumb socks to bed. I've watched them doing it for two.......YEARS....now and he's still sucking his thumb but not as much. Good luck breaking a comfort habit that started in the womb.
In school-aged children, thumb-sucking can be a sign of emotional distress or anxiety-Chastising is only going to make such a situation even more stressful for the child. Talk to the parents about your student's thumb sucking behavior. They could seek help from their pediatrician. Also setting up a positive reinforcement system for her could be helpful-especially if it is reinforced at home. Show patience and understanding.
My own daughter sucked her thumb. I hated it but she was a twin (I have 4 children with a 4 year age gap so they are all close in age) but her thumb was her comfort and she went to sleep very quickly. To stop her from sucking her thumb (at about 2 and a half years old) we used the stuff you paint on fingernails to stop you biting your nails. it tastes disgusting and it worked. Talk to the parents to see if they think it's an issue and have all your arguments in place as to why thumb sucking is not good for the teeth and palate. If the parents aren't bothered about it, then try and let it go. I would be more concerned if it were a pacifier or she were still having baby bottles of formula at night (which I have had in my class!).
I totally understand what you are saying, one of my students sucks tow of her fingers and it really gets on my nerves.
Umm, nitpicking, but I think you mean punishment, not negative reinforcement. And I suspect punishment can work when correctly implemented (e.g., the extreme bitter flavor painted on the nails sounds promising), at least in the short term. Positive reinforcement is better for longer-term change and when there are difficulties in implementation.
I agree. Thumb-sucking can be related to stress. I had a child in K who would suck his thumb constantly in class. Turned out he was a very young K-er, had been through some big changes at home, and just wasn't ready for the academic pressure in K. We discussed it with the grandparents and decided to have him do PreK again. Within a week, the thumb-sucking had stopped.
As a child woh was a thumb sucker her self (and yea i really didnt totally stop until i was married!) It was something i out grew when i was ready. I did stop doing it at school when i was in 3rd grade, but i still used it to help me fall asleep well into adulthood. My son sucks his 2 fingers and i know that he will stop doing it when he is ready, he doesnt do it at school though and he is 5. Positive reinforcement is the way not the yucky polish (my parents tried that too, i got used to the taste!) Support this child and try not to get so grosed out,
Thank you all for your posts. It just surprised me and grossed me out when I saw her sucking her thumb. Her situation is pitiful, single house hold mom, very, very poor, but smart as a whip. To me sucking your thumb should be a personal thing you don't do around any one else.
I had a thumb-sucker. I dealt with it very matter-of-factly. I told her it spreads germs and so every time I caught her I said, "Go wash your hands." I said it nicely, but she did it each time and I think it got so annoying that she stopped! She still does it every once in a while I think, and she is in 3rd grade now, but she definitely has underlying anxiety issues. Washing her hands made me feel better and definitely reduced the problem. I have a sink in my room though, so she didn't miss too much class time.
I made my thumb-sucker use hand sanitizer (nasty aftertaste). It is horribly disgusting and spreads way too many germs. If the child wants to do it at night, fine. But in the classroom with others, no way.
I had a thumb-sucker a few years ago. He was 13, and he only sucked his thumb when he was concentrating really, really hard on something. When I'd notice, I'd slip a peppermint onto his desk. It worked like a charm.
