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pj
Emu Egg
Joined: May 13, 2007
Posts: 6
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 Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 9:15 pm Post subject: Need Help-Drawing on Self/Furniture |
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My son is 5 and has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS.
He's recently taken to drawing on EVERYTHING...furniture, walls, himself and his clothes, etc. (He either writes his name or draws spinning fans.) We put his crayons and pencils out of his reach and he would sneak pens and pencils from our car and desk. We've put every writing uteinsil in the house and yesterday, he carved his name into our kitchen table with a spoon while I was in the shower. He doesn't draw on the desks at school or on stuff at other people's houses so I know it is possible for him to control this behavior. It seems almost compulsive. He was having supervised drawing time just now and he drew on the table in front of us. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm at my wits end. |
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blessedmom
Cynically Optimistic Daydreamer
Joined: Apr 10, 2007
Posts: 4285
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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| I let my son use wax crayons to write on windows or mirrors.It washes off with Windex or isopropyl rubbing alcohol. I put a large chalkboard and a white board in his room and easels with wipe boards in each room he frequented. I also had a table for him that was washable if he wrote on it. When he did draw on walls, he had to clean them off with a Mr. Clean Eraser. I didn't make a fuss, just gave him the eraser and let him clean it. He soon stopped writing on everything. |
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EarthCalling
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 28, 2007
Posts: 983
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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I don't really know what to say. I know my son never "drew" per say, but definately he would have compulsions he would have to act on at home and not out in public or at someone elses house...
I almost wonder if giving him more freedom with the drawing in select areas would help, maybe do up a whole wall in his room with blackboard paint and let him go nuts with some chalk? (That is if he does not have a dust allergy... ;) ) I think that limiting it is maybe not the answer, but making him accountable for working in areas that are not appropreate... Wax crayons are great. If they are on the walls or tile / linolium / wood floors you can also get it off with lighter fluid... My mother used it for over 30 years with children and it never damaged a surface once! (Also gets pesky scuff marks from black shoes off the floor with no trouble at all!) |
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ster
Phoenix
Joined: Sep 24, 2005
Posts: 2444
Location: new england
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| Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 6:50 am Post subject: |
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| my son who's 15 likes to draw on himself and on other surfaces..............he says the drawing is a way to release anxiety. if he draws on surfaces, he's made to clean it up. his latest tool is a sharpie marker. he's used Kilz to paint over his grafitti on his ceiling. he still draws on himself~don't know what to tell you about that. |
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carolgatto
Snowy Owl
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Joined: Mar 30, 2007
Posts: 142
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| Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 9:30 am Post subject: |
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This is a problem I have with both my 2 1/2 year old and my 16 year old. I don't have any great answer, but I can share what we do.
The little guy, well some of it is age, but he cannot touch something that writes or anything that might make a mark of any kind without drawing all over himself, walls, furniture and at times other children. We have done all the usual things to discourage this behavior but it's like you said, it's almost compulsive. I have literally watched him struggle with himself, trying not to do it. He has three older siblings so always keeping crayons and markers out of reach is a problem. We just keep trying to discourage the behavior and give him other outlets for it and hopefully it will slowly go in the right direction.
The 16 year old will draw on himself, clothes, walls and whatever he finds interesting. He is very artistic so some of it is a creative outlet, but some is not. He says it's a way of dealing with his frustration, almost another way to shut out the world because he can get lost in it. He has come home from school and his entire pair of new jeans will be decorated I guess you would say. He has also told me that the feeling of the pen on his skin feels good to him, which is odd because he doesn't like to be touched. We keep a supply of drawing pads around for him and he has freedom to express himself in his room(as long as he doesn't use the Sharpie markers anymore) on the walls and then we paint over it eventually. We also keep a large white board in the living room with dry earse markers for any of them to draw on when they want. Nothing has completely ended the behavior but we have made it easier to deal with.
As I am slowly repainting and updating their rooms I am trying to put in white boards for each of them, so they have their very own space. In my little guys room we are thinking about the chalkboard paint for one wall. This will give him a really big space to draw without getting in trouble. |
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EarthCalling
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 28, 2007
Posts: 983
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 9:42 am Post subject: |
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I remember my son, when he was 8 (definitely old enough to "know better" in the NT world...)
He got a hold of some sharpie markers and ruined my mothers dinning room chairs colouring on them! 
It was strange, because it had been at least a year since he coloured on anything he should not have...
I suppose it shows that permanent markers in a home with young children can have disastrous consequences unless they are kept really high up 
I think it is just exceptionally hard when you "think" they should be outgrowing it and they don't.
*sigh* |
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KalahariMeerkat
Toucan
Joined: Mar 20, 2007
Posts: 263
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| Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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I used to do that (still do unfortunatly but not as much. I'll have a little pen squiggle on my leg but not tiger stripes all over my body like I did when I was five). I think it was a combonation of three things: a craving for sensory input, bordom and a lack of impulse control. I drew on walls a lot. I even once glued a picture to the wall with carpenter's gule at 4:AM right before we had to leave for a trip. My parents couldn't really get through to me about anything at that age so they had to just wipe away the mess and hope I would eventualy learn.
I liked the feel of how a wet marker or pen felt on my skin. I even once spread Elmer's glue all over my face. I drew on myself the most while my mother read aloud from textbooks (I was homeschooled) and I had nothing to do with my hands. After school hours were over, my legs looked like a doodle pad. When talking on the telephone, (the early 90's when only rich people had cell phones and they were big bulky things), I had to sit at an old desk and got kinda bored so I would grind a pen into the desk and make deigns.
If all else fails, you can always replace all paints and markers in the house with those Crayola Wonder things and Go Paint that will only show up on the special paper. They did not have those when I was growing up unfortunatly. |
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pj
Emu Egg
Joined: May 13, 2007
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the advice, everybody. I've decided to start saving up to get him a dry erase board. I also picked up a book today with some behavior modification strategies. I will let ya'll know how it goes. Thank you. |
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princetizoc
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Apr 15, 2007
Posts: 53
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 3:29 am Post subject: |
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My son is 3 1/2 same thing, not on himself, but all over the walls, if I take him to a piece of paper he will draw there, but as soon as I walk away back to the wall, he just laughs when I tell him no. I just don't feel like fighting about it, my house is terrible the walls are just covered!!! They have told me in school he really enjoys painting so I figure maybe he will be an Artist and I will look back at this and laugh! I also know that one day when I move, the walls will be painted over anyway.  |
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EarthCalling
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 28, 2007
Posts: 983
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:15 am Post subject: |
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| KalahariMeerkat wrote: | I used to do that (still do unfortunatly but not as much. I'll have a little pen squiggle on my leg but not tiger stripes all over my body like I did when I was five). I think it was a combonation of three things: a craving for sensory input, bordom and a lack of impulse control. I drew on walls a lot. I even once glued a picture to the wall with carpenter's gule at 4:AM right before we had to leave for a trip. My parents couldn't really get through to me about anything at that age so they had to just wipe away the mess and hope I would eventualy learn.
I liked the feel of how a wet marker or pen felt on my skin. I even once spread Elmer's glue all over my face. I drew on myself the most while my mother read aloud from textbooks (I was homeschooled) and I had nothing to do with my hands. After school hours were over, my legs looked like a doodle pad. When talking on the telephone, (the early 90's when only rich people had cell phones and they were big bulky things), I had to sit at an old desk and got kinda bored so I would grind a pen into the desk and make deigns.
If all else fails, you can always replace all paints and markers in the house with those Crayola Wonder things and Go Paint that will only show up on the special paper. They did not have those when I was growing up unfortunatly. |
Boy did you bring back a flood of memories, I think I forgot how much I used to draw on myself and cover myself in glue!
I used to draw on myself with pens, You could always find a doodle somewhere on me. Surpisingly it was a classmate in grade 10 who gave herself ink poisoning repeatedly drawing a heart on her hand every day for 2 months!
I used to deliberately cover my hands in white glue, loved how it felt, and when It dried I could spend an hour picking it off! "ahh... not what is be definition of bliss!"
I think my one concern with a Dry erase board is, are the markers washable on other surfaces? |
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Eller
Deinonychus
Joined: May 02, 2007
Posts: 302
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:30 am Post subject: |
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I used to "decorate" walls, too... First, my parents used to start screaming every time, but eventually they gave in and even helped me with some designs... After every wall was covered in paintings, I didn't draw over them anymore, because I didn't want to destroy them.
And I loved those fingerpaints and oil pastels... still do, actually.  I guess that's a sensory thing. |
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BugsMom
Sea Gull
Joined: Apr 20, 2007
Posts: 205
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:44 am Post subject: |
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My son likes to draw on himself too. He was drawing on the walls for awhile, but hasn't done it much recently. I just made sure that he used washable markers.
I liked drawing on the walls as a kid, and so did my brother and sisters. My poor parents...we wreaked havoc on some of their walls! They were nice about it though. |
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carolgatto
Snowy Owl
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Joined: Mar 30, 2007
Posts: 142
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 9:23 am Post subject: |
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The dry earse markers come off most surfaces with a Magic Eraser, but like all markers not everything.
Speaking of the Magic Eraser, yesterday I caught my little guy drawing on the walls in the hallway, and I went and got the Magic Eraser and started to clean. He immediately took it away from me and started cleaning the wall...woohoo.....he spent more time doing this than he does drawing so now I am putting him to work all over the house where he has left his mark,lol. |
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princetizoc
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Apr 15, 2007
Posts: 53
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pj
Emu Egg
Joined: May 13, 2007
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 10:11 am Post subject: |
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| I'm more concerned about the fact that he took it to the level of carving on the table after losing his drawing privileges...I'm OK with him drawing on his stuff, even his walls but it just seemed like...an over response to me? Does that make sense? |
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