I can’t take away the eraser or give it to him only when he asks, because I have more students.
He’s impulsive but nice. His parents know he does stuff like that.
Any ideas?
Talk to parents, get their written approval to put bitter apple spray on the erasers.
Agreed, putting something repulsive is the key here. This kind of strategy is used for nail biters as well.
That only works for so long. My mom got special nail varnish from the doctors that was supposed to stop me chewing my nails. Properly vile rotten stuff.
I ended up developing a taste for it.
Me too lol
My mom used to threaten me with hot sauce, but I love hot sauce.
That stuff typically only works if you want to stop.
Ooooooh very nice idea!!! Thank you!!!
Something similar to the spray they use on animals after a surgery? It’s safe for consumption but it tastes god-awful to stop the animal licking the wound.
Sounds like it could be a stim thing - impulsive, you say? Any chance there’s (undiagnosed?) ASD there? The mentions of bitter spray reminded me of when my mother tried that to get me to stop biting my nails. I just stopped using my lips and tongue, and only used my teeth…
Anyway, if it’s a stimulation thing, maybe finding an alternative would be easier than getting him to stop entirely.
Yeah, this is exactly what I was thinking, too. You redirect the behavior somewhere safe while still fulfilling the essential need.
I’ll find something else too, then. I don’t want to harm him
I’d be curious for a follow-up post if you find a way to help him with this! I was this kid when I was little, and needed help and kindness, but there was no understanding for autistic behaviours back then so what I got instead was bullied. I appreciate that you went looking for help instead of just throwing up your hands 🤗
I’ll update you!!
Long shot but it could be a sign of iron deficiency. Eating, smelling and licking odd things like paper, erasers, I’ve heard of these associations. I even read about a woman who would spend her lunch hour smelling the concrete in the stairwell. Turned out to be iron deficiency.
Chewing ice as well, supposedly it is motivated by iron deficiency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)?wprov=sfla1
Maybe a vitamin b or magnesium deficiency?
Some pharmacies sell a bitter liquid (no idea how it’s called) intended to to put on children’s fingernails to prevent nail baiting. I guess this would also work on erasers.
I had this, it was called Stop n Grow
I eventually got used to and, even liked the taste
Yeah… I discovered I could file the upper layer of my nail to remove the polish. Guess how my nails ended up.
I had a bitterant put on my hands and now I just like bitter flavors lol
Don’t all children do that?
I used to shew on everything, my friend used to literally destroy pens by shewing them too much. I think it’s normal.
Could be just a bad habit as you say. Boredom. Might be worth checking to see of some kids have any other issues that might put them on an au/dhd spectrum. One of ours habitually destroyed pencils and erasers no matter what we did. Found out later It was anxiety and stress from undiagnosed neurospicyness.
Well, there is stuff you paint on kids nails to prevent them from biting them, which basically tastes bitter. Maybe apply this to the eraser?
Maybe get connected to this guy
Give him a piece of gum?
If they are the school’s I would simply not give them to that student anymore, for very obvious reasons that every 9yo should understand. Let him use his own.
Is the act itself disturbing the class or his own ability to concentrate? If not, I do not see any further problem.
Haven’t we all chewed on pencils to concentrate?
Well, yes, it interrupts the class because every few minutes I have to stop him. The other lemmings have given me some great ideas
Don’t bother trying. It isn’t going to hurt the kid.
It can easily be a chocking hazard, it’s unsanitary, and it can cause the child to be ostracized by peers which can limit their social development.
Is eating erasers going to get you more ostracized than constant nagging from the teacher to not eat erasers?
Personally still going to put the blame there on eraser eater, but the whole point of this post was to find something that actually works to curb the behavior
It doesn’t sound like they’re necessarily his erasers though
They are not
Do like my ol’ dad did make him smoke a whole pack. It’ll put him off forever.
“you can put that eraser in your mouth as much as you want, but first you have to eat this pallet of erasers from the supply storage”
Roundhouse kick that kid to the moon.
Wait for a couple years. He will stop doing it eventually.
Why do you want that? Is there some inobvious harm in chewing erasers? Or money is the main problem? Let him chew his own erasers then.
Other kids have to use them.
Communal erasers? Are they extremely expensive in some countries?
If this is in the U.S., teachers typically have to buy their own supplies on meager salaries. Watching one kid literally eat those supplies must be pretty demoralizing.
He’s not chewing them. He’s putting them in his mouth whole. I don’t think he’ll choke, but other people want to use the eraser too. Yes I paid for them myself, as someone else guessed in the other answers.
I paid for them myself
Understood. This was the inobvious nuance to me. In my culture we expect pupils to have their own writing tools, paper, etc.
