Inappropiate behaviour | ADHD Information

I forgot how much my son would "adjust himself" years ago. He has sensory issues along with the AD/HD. He would say "it" was sticky! and I'm not a guy so I don't understand! He would adjust himself without even thinking about it. I just kept reminding him to not do it in front of people, including me! He is seventeen,and I haven't noticed him doing it for a few years time now.

Have you asked him what bothers him about it that he must adjust himself so much? I tried to suggest some sort of guy powder for down there to alleviate the stickiness, but my son just thought that was to girly of a thing to do.

Hi zena,
If he is only doing this at home then let him or tell him to go to his room to play with hiself, i know this sounds a bit imature for his age to be doing this, it may not be of sexual nature, when boys are little they play with themselves, they are not being rude, they are exploring themselves, did he ever do that when he was smaller?
My son is eight & will be nine in november, he's played with his self, it's a natueral thing for them to do, he's starting to learn that if he does it long enough he will get a donger, then i tell him to leave hiself alone & that i/we dont want to see it.
If you really dont want him to, then maybe distract his attension to something else without offending him in that department.How interesting to find others who have dealt with this issue. I thought it was something peculiar to my son!  When I mentioned it to his psych, she started asking about other compulsive behaviors, but I don't think it's a compulsion.  He says he does it because it's not "pointing the right way." My husband thinks that when "it" grows more, it will settle into a location, if you will, and then my son will leave it alone.  Sound reasonable?  We're afraid to mention it to his pediatrician, because as a former daycare teacher, I know that this kind of touching can be misconstrued as an indicator of sexual abuse, and we don't want to open the social services Pandora's box.

Thanx for all your replies! He doesn't seem just to 'adjust' it he will have his hands down there for ages - if I let him.  He doesn't seem to play with it either, just holds it I think!  He never used to touch or play with it when he was younger which I thought was quite odd because I know it can just be a natural thing. 

He does have some tactile sensory issues, he likes to wear briefs and sometimes he wears lots of pairs at once but for school he feels he has to wear boxers because that what all the other lads wear and he saw some lads taking the mickey out of another lad who was wearing briefs. I'll have to see if he does it more when wearing boxers.

I will have to try and ask him again why he does it, I tried before but it's very difficult to get him to talk about something other than what he wants to talk about.

Thanx for all your suggestions.

I think as long as you teach your son to do it in private and he can listen to that thats fine. Lets face it people our boys are little men and it just feels good, know what I mean (that is what my dh said). It is natural for them to start having these feelings it is part of being a human being on God's green earth. However the important part is being able to control it and know that it is not decent to do it in public. Once again society makes a bigger deal out of something that has been done for generations, ask the men not the women.

In assessments, it has been shown that the ADHD is most prominant, although you're right it probably is an ASD 'thing'.  I will ask on the other forum.  Thing is it's not always private if people come to the home he will still do it! 

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions.  My 11 year old son, who has been diagnosed as having ADHD and ASD,  won't stop putting his hands down his trousers. How can I stop him from doing this?  He only seems to do it at home, not at school.  Is it a comfort thing?

Since your child is on the autism spectrum, which will affect him far more than the ADHD, I highly recommend going to this sister site. It looks the same, but it's for parents of autistic kids. They can probably give you some good advice. This sounds like more an ASD thing, especially since he's 11. My son is on the Spectrum too. The kids are everywhere from low functioning to very high functioning Aspergers. I'm really not sure what to suggest because my son doesn't do this, but he's almost 13 now and he does a lot of odd things, however, like your son, he's learned to do them privately. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it unless he does it in public, but why not ask the other parents? Here's the link:

www.autism-pdd.net/forum/default.asp

MomWI38890.9640046296Zena it is also an Impulsive thing to do which is and ADHD characteristic. My son used to do this but we have discussed it with him and made him aware whenever he did it. He doesn't do it anymore but it was always a come and go thing over the years. My 7yr old did that also until about a month ago.  Well . . . he still does it sometimes now.  He has ADHD, Anxiety (high level) and OCD.  So with his it could be either one of the above.  Anyway, he would either tell me that he didn't know he was doing it or that it just didn't feel right.  When I noticed him doing it during basketball practice we had a little talk with him and explained why it was not appropriate.  It probably also helped that one of his friends saw him "adjusting" (a quick little in and out of the his hand) and asked what he ws doing.  He told him to pay close attention to what he was doing and that we would quietly say his name when we saw it.  Thank God, he has basically stopped.  I do not know why..IMac38944.87125Have you tried overalls? If he can't get to it he won't do it. Also try a hand toy for him to fiddle with, like a gyroscope.