At a wise reader’s suggestion, I gave Tommy a box of drinking straws to chew on for his sensory issues. There was a time when Tommy wore a weighted vest over his extra-soft clothing with all the labels removed. He carried a bag of fidget toys with him at all times and I kept extras with me. Over time I stopped using the bag of tricks. I should have switched to new tricks instead. The straws have been wonderful! Not only have they decreased the bloody fingernails, it has stopped the destruction of plastic cups. Tommy can now flatten, fold, coil, twist, tie and recreate Rodin’s sculptures using only his teeth. The only thing I did with straws as a teen was melt them into giant three-dimensional blobs until the after-hours waitress kicked us out of the restaurant.
Drinking straws are also good for saving college students a little bit of parking money while on Spring Break. Just ask Doug.
For the record, it’s not something that I would do now, but at the time, every quarter saved was that much closer to getting another beer at the beach.