I have a 17 year old foster son who a year ago started digging (maybe originally constipation but has been treated and cleared) and is now smearing more and more. According to Crimes Against Children Research Center, 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys are sexually abused by age 18. He and his mother were in a very low speed accident in October 2019. She has what we call “poop parties”. If underlying medical causes have been ruled out and the root cause is sensory (enjoys the smell, texture, feel of feces), you can try offering substitutions for the feces such as: Touch – warm play dough, pudding, toothpaste, shower gel, clay, sand and water mixture, Visual – finger painting, shaving cream, clay, bread dough, Smell – Marmite, vinegar, essential oils, spices, scented lotions, Sound – the texture will tell you the sound the material will make when squeezed. 2013 May;54(5):503-15. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12047. sausage), flatulent music (i.e. I used to get so disheartened over the mess, smell, and clean up. I’ve also heard that scatophilia (sexually aroused by poop) is also associated w/ mental distubances. Behaviors of children who are exposed and not exposed to intimate partner violence: an analysis of 330 black, white, and Hispanic children. If you had this dream, then we can say that you are a very anxious person in your real life. Does he roll it in between his fingers? If you read the fecal smearing article, I do write some suggestions for how to address the sensory issues around smearing. Does he get a diaper on his own or asked to be changed? Not all therapists are created equal and make sure the one you choose has in-depth (more than a scattered handful of clients) experience working with foster kids and children who have experienced severe abuse/sexual abuse. The feces is semi-soft to almost liquid, and it leaks into clothing without the person making any effort to expel it. Hello, my son is 2.5years old and he is always picking his bum when he is about to or is pooping, sometimes he wipes bits of poo on things or he smears it on the walls/bathroom tiles. Amanda, I am glad you found this article helpful. Overall this raises a red flag to me - be it a sign of child abuse or a sign of a possible neurological disorder where the child is looking for tactile stimulation and recreating it with fecal smearing. Because you can’t find much information about smearing, parents feel that other children don’t do this, they feel embarrassed, or they feel it is a part of the disability and nothing can be done about it. Maggie, I feel like there may be a sensory need that is not being addressed which is why she is playing with her feces. Thank you Recently I got a call from sons school saying that someone had been smearing poop on bathroom wall and finally caught my son. Although there are many signs to pay attention to in a relationship, look for these common warning signs of dating abuse: I always got spanked for it, but I still did it anyway. Some children with autism smear feces for the sensory stimulation it provides; the sight, smell, or feel of the activity may offer a comforting feeling. So I came up with the conclusion hey, everytime you use the bathroom hop in the shower dude and I also started having him clean up the mess himself (which he did VERY WELL with a little guidance)…..that worked for about a week and he got tired of the chore so after that everything was back to being everywhere. Warning signs of domestic abuse. The positive predictive value of soiling as an indicator of abuse was 45% versus 63% for sexual acting out. We present a pediatric case of presumptive coprophagia. This site needs JavaScript to work properly. I have been told that it is not common and often times a red flag when a child older than the age of 6 is into the habit of playing with their own feces in private. It’s difficult to find articles related to angelmans so I mostly rely on Autisum forums. I have an 11 year old son that is smearing. This information is helpful for physicians to determine what is going on. And what to do about it, kind of lost. If nothing happens, take a 20 minute break but keep watching him for signs that he may be pooing like squatting. Hi! Impairment in interoceptive awareness may be the reason someone doesn’t know they need to defecate. I'm not 100% what all he is doing with it, but at least he's not smearing it around the room which I guess is the only blessing in this. This activity may be used as a calming strategy connected to a traumatic event such as the car accident. National Center for Biotechnology Information, Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error. Your reaction to all of this is not a low arousal one, but one full of emotions. When it comes to child abuse, bed wetting is usually associated with sexual abuse. If he is Type 1 or 2, you have a constipation problem. Is it rolled into a ball in between his fingers for example? Description Most children have established bowel control by the time they are four years old. Not all therapists are created equal and make sure the one you choose has in-depth (more than a scattered handful of clients) experience working with foster kids and children who have experienced severe abuse/sexual abuse. Smearing covers a variety of behaviors such as: Rolling feces in the hands, then hiding the pieces Taking feces of out of the toilet to play with or smear Choosing a spot in the house to play … Recently his sleep pattern has not been good so I hear him playing in his room way after bed time I go in and can smell and see poo. Note that the information contained on this web site should not be used as a substitute for medical care and advice. I hear this quite often, but never heard a good explanation of it. They need support from professionals to understand and develop toileting skills for the individual. Also try and keep his physical activity up to alleviate anxiety and help him to self-regulate. You say he is high functioning. Have there been any changes in his diet as of late? Is he smearing it on to something? when the individual is not there so that they can’t see or hear your responses to the cleaning. You need to do more in-depth reading on this topic. Patient perceived severity of bowel symptoms were higher in children with physical abuse (23.7 vs. 19.7 p = 0.001) and emotional abuse (25.4 vs. 19.3 p < 0.0001) abuse. Or a sign of severe child abuse? We’ve tried reward systems for a year and it is only getting worse. Read the book – it is the best read on this topic and it certainly helped me in my own life with my son who engages in fecal smearing. Please read my article on constipation – https://autismawarenesscentre.com/constipation-witholding-and-overflow-a-deeper-dive-into-bowel-problems-for-individuals-with-asd/ . I think it’s for attention or out if boredom as he’s basically been a prisoner since Covid and lockdown started back in March apart from a few outings. He immediately runs to his room when I come into the area and hides his hands. Some children use stool as lubricant in masturbation, as stated in my article. RAD is often seen in adopted children, where the initial attachment with the biological mother has been disrupted, even if the child was very young or an infant when adopted. Help! Please have a look at this paper on the use of restrictive clothing and why the underlying behavior needs to be addressed. The US Department of Justice’s National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) lists 12 other behaviors that can be signs of possible sexual abuse. Playing Secret Sexualized Games If children are wanting to play secret body games with their friends, this deserves further exploration. Remember, sexual abuse need not involve touch at all—a child can be sexually abused with words only, for example, or with a camera. A new baby in the family, a move to a new house, family conflict, or any other emotionally stressful situation may cause your child to revert to an earlier level of bathroom mastery—possibly involving bedwetting, puddling, withholding of stool, and even defecating in inappropriate places. My son is now 27 years of age. According to Camille Cooper, the VP of Public Policy of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, more than half of sexual abuse contact cases involve family members. Rates of sexualized behavior were reported significantly more often by the abused group versus both the psychiatric and normative groups and were a better predictor of abuse status. I am a psychologist who is supporting a family who is dealing with smearing. He is no doubtedly using them in some fashion for masturbatory purposes and to release stress. He doesn’t smear it as such, he just takes it from his nappy and eats it. You say he is a foster son with no trauma. Anal-themed terms of abuse are particularly widespread, especially in Germany and the USA. We found out that our son was chronically constipated after having an abdominal ultrasound done. I will then tell him to go wash and start cleaning up. My name is katy and I have a son who is almost 7 that plays in poop he is deaf with sensory issues he might have autism. A behavioral specialist will study antecedents to the behavior, the function of the behavior as well as the caregiver’s reaction. Autism Awareness Centre’s mission is to ensure our extensive autism resource selection features the newest titles available in North America. He is perfectly capable of performing self-care tasks but he also recently stopped washing fully except his face and teeth or just very early morning washing to get rid of poop traces. Smearing can be caused by a variety of things. It mainly seems to be at bed time after he has been put to bed. Don’t ask your son if he needs to poo before bedtime – take him to the toilet and have him sit for 10 minutes. As she is getting older it’s easier for her to remove her pajamas at night and it’s challenging to find things to leave in bed with her because she will eat whatever is in her hands. Emotional causes of bathroom-related problems are among the most challenging to address, since young children are rarely able to express their confusion, anxiety, or fear in words. Children may seek different types of input from poop smearing such as scent, texture or the temperature. wind and brass) and toilet humour. 5. Sometimes I can see the eggs and the worms in his stool. I’ve tried so hard to not react but sometimes shear exhaustion gets the better of me. 7 Child sexual abuse SUMMARY The dynamics of child sexual abuse differ from those of adult sexual abuse. The predictive utility of fecal soiling as an indicator of sexual abuse status was examined. 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