Never a dull moment :)

[Supernrse01]

I just had a 3rd grade teacher ask me about some specific behavior in one of her students. The behavior described sounds like self-stimulation- crossing legs tightly, flushed face, staring off into space, etc... The student is easily brought back to task and it doesn't seem to be interfering with anything, including other students in the classroom. I'm not sure there is anything that needs to be or should be done/said about this but was wondering if any of you have had a situation like this before? My thoughts are the discovery of "something feels good and I can make it happen" is normal in kids and that there is no reason to intervene, especially since there is nothing out of the ordinary (that we know of) with this student and home life.

[scrubsrn24]

I've never been first to contact parents about this kind of issue - typically the teacher will refer the student to the school counselor and they contact the parent with the teacher. If it turns out to have an underlying medical cause (UTI, yeast infection, etc.), then I'm brought into the loop.

A couple of years ago we had a second grade classroom with 3 girls "self soothing" on a regular basis....the code name for the room was the Red Light District

[Farawyn]

Exactly. I wouldn't want a teacher to tell me to call up a parent because of this sort of behavior. Thats what I meant with the early post.

I don't know. I'm iffy on this.

Maybe I would want to be the one to call. It depends on the situation.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

This tends to be one of those issues that gets dumped on us under the guise of "staring off" maybe a seizure. Nope - not when, uh.. other activities are accompanying it. Sometimes that's all i need to say when ths issue crops up from time to time. Sometimes all I have to do is suggest the modifications similar to what OldDude suggested - move away from table leg, provide busy tasks to redirect hands, whatever works

[Supernrse01, BSN]

We don't have a SW but we do have a counselor.

According to the teacher, this occurs in the afternoon, after lunch and recess and all other behaviors have been normal. No acting out or anything that would raise a red flag, so to speak. She also said that she is easy to get back on task. The other kids haven't noticed anything, as far as the teacher can tell.

[Supernrse01, BSN]

Absolutely agree that this is something the teacher needs to address with parent, since she is the one seeing the behavior.

[Supernrse01, BSN]

Thank you all for your input. I'm so happy to get your opinions on something like this. I am going to mention it to the counselor and also mention to the teacher that she may want to give parents a heads up as well. Like most of you said, I would hate for it to have an underlying cause unrelated to what we assume is "it feels good"

[SnowyJ, RN]

"staring off" maybe a seizure. Nope - not when, uh.. other activities are accompanying it.

Oh, I agree..If the child is obviously "stimming" it's voluntary. But that is not what the original post said. It said staring, flushed and clenching legs which could be something else.

Had a first grader grader last year that her teacher was so frustrated with because she kept "zoning out." Yep, focal seizures. Taught me to never assume.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

Why? Sexual health is health. Or, it could indicate something more.

Late to this post, but given that I teach sex ed, this situation would totally end up on my lap, I am certain...

Like some have said, it could be a medical concern (i.e. focal seizures), but kids start to discover what "feels good" and if it feels good...kids may not know that school isn't the appropriate place for it. (Now, my HS kids, they know...oh, they know...)

If it became distracting for other students, got student off track that would be different. Sounds like student is able to re-directed quickly and may, with time, get the message .