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Demetri, ever the attentive friend, always half-heartedly tracked Eli's stims and what they meant. It helped him to know what was going on in his head even when he didn't feel like talking about it, which meant he could provide support better.
One of Eli's more frequent fidgets was that he would chew on the grips of his pens. When it wasn't his pens it was his fingers. Neither of which was great because it damaged his writing utensils and would often leave his fingers red and sensitive. However, there was little Demetri could do to redirect him, especially when he was stressed.
So, Demetri went online and found an Autism forum that he frequented. He didn't have Autism himself (only ADHD) but he checked in there regularly to try and stay educated because he wanted to be a good friend to Eli. He also occasionally posted questions, figuring that he might get more insight from people actually living with the disorder as opposed to confusing medical documents.
My friend has Autism and keeps biting his pens and fingers. Any suggestions?
posted by BinaryDemetri
Hi. My best friend has Autism (or at least his doctor said he probably does, but he hasn't been able to get an official diagnosis yet). He has this habit (stim?) of biting on his pens when he's stressed, or his fingers if he doesn't have a pen on-hand. Any suggestions on how to redirect/help him so he doesn't keep damaging his pens/hurting himself?
From there, he got a few suggestions, but the one that most caught his eye was a comment that talked about these chew necklaces. Upon clicking the link they'd sent, he saw these necklaces that looked like your average rock necklace, but you could chew on the "rock" part because it was made of silicone. Even better, the three-pack was plenty within his budget, so he promptly bought a set and logged off.
Truth be told, he'd forgotten about his purchase until it showed up a few days later and it all came flooding back. He took the bag, stashed it in his backpack, and wrote a reminder in his phone to give it to Eli the following day.
The next day, he found Eli at lunch, biting on his fingers from nervousness because Yasmine, Moon, and Sam were gawking at him again. Demetri frowned and then suddenly remembered his gift, which he fished out from his backpack and passed to Eli under the table so that it didn't draw more unwanted attention.
"What is this?" Eli asked, inspecting the back. He saw what looked like three crystals (or crayons?), but a quick squish of the bag revealed them to be a more stretchy material.
"It's something for you to chew on instead of your fingers" Demetri with a smile. "It's a necklace, but you could also easily hide it under your shirt if you don't want people to see it or ask questions"
Eli smiled for a moment before his expression faltered slightly, looking back over to the girls at the other table. "What if they call me retarded or something?"
"Don't use it when they can see you" Demetri replied with a shrug. "But, hopefully, it should help save your poor fingers the stress" he gestured to Eli's fingers, which were still a little red from when he'd been biting them a moment ago. Eli blushed furiously in embarrassment, gaining a lighthearted chuckle from his friend.
"Thank you, Demetri"
"Yeah, don't mention it"