Episode Title: How Sensory Chews Transform Lives: Discover ARK Therapeutic’s Impact

Episode Number: 23

Release Date: Aug 26, 2024

Duration: 49:10

Episode Summary:  In this episode of Now You Know One Autistic, Moshe and Leah explore the world of sensory chew toys and their profound impact on autistic individuals and those with sensory processing differences. They delve into the reasons behind oral stimming, the challenges associated with it, and how products like those from ARK Therapeutic can offer solutions and improve quality of life. The hosts also share personal experiences and insights into their family's journey with sensory chews.

Key Takeaways

  • Understanding Stims: Stims are self-stimulatory behaviors that can serve various purposes, including seeking or relieving stimulation. Oral stims, like chewing, are common and can be driven by sensory needs, anxiety, or a desire for specific textures or tastes.
  • The Importance of Sensory Chews: Sensory chews provide a safe and appropriate outlet for oral stimming, reducing the likelihood of chewing on inappropriate or harmful objects. They can also aid in focus, concentration, and self-soothing.
  • ARK Therapeutic's Unique Approach: ARK Therapeutic stands out by offering chew toys in various toughness levels, shapes, and colors, catering to individual preferences and needs. Their products are made from safe, durable materials and are designed to support both children and adults.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

  • The reasons behind oral stimming and its connection to sensory processing.
  • The potential challenges and risks associated with oral stimming, including pica and feeding difficulties.
  • How sensory chews can address these challenges and promote positive outcomes.
  • The unique features and benefits of ARK Therapeutic's sensory chew toys.
  • Tips for choosing the right chew toys and incorporating them into daily life.

Quotes

  • "For autistics and other neurodivergents... you feel things a lot more than your average neurotypical." - Moshe
  • "If you have a child that is so excited that they flap their hands or they spin around or they stim, then definitely it's not a negative behavior. It's just them expressing themselves." - Moshe

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SEO Keywords: autism, sensory chew toys, oral stimming, ARK Therapeutic, feeding difficulties, neurodivergence, stimming behaviors, sensory processing differences, special needs parenting, autism support, chewy toys for autism, oral motor skills, speech therapy tools, pica, self-soothing, autism podcast

Transcript:

[00:08] Moshe: Hi, I'm Moshe, and I'm autistic.

[00:10] Leah: I'm leah, and I'm boring. Welcome to the now, you know, one autistic podcast.

[00:16] Moshe: The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect one autistic and one layout and don't necessarily reflect the entire autistic community.

[00:25] Leah: Let's get to it. Hi, Moshe.

[00:32] Moshe: Hi, Alaya.

[00:33] Leah: How are you today, hon? So it's been a heck of a week.

[00:37] Moshe: It has.

[00:38] Leah: It's been a long week and a stressful week. And a fun week.

[00:41] Moshe: Yeah. This week we moved to a new place, and that's why this episode is being recorded a little bit late. Although if you're just listening to it maybe several months or years after we recorded it, then it's.

[00:55] Leah: Then it's early.

[00:55] Moshe: It's right on time. It's exactly where it needs to be.

[00:58] Leah: Yeah, exactly. Also, you started a new job, a.

[01:01] Moshe: New day job today started a new day job.

[01:03] Leah: It's been a week, but let's talk about why this week has also been a really fun week.

[01:08] Moshe: Yes, this has been a week of some really big developments. Besides the new place to live and the new job, we have our first and our first new sponsor. Our first sponsor since we started the podcast.

[01:24] Leah: Yeah. So we're talking about Arc therapeutic. What do they specialize in?

[01:29] Moshe: So, arc Therapeutics specializes in sensory chew toys that help with chew stims and eating and drinking difficulties, texture sensitivities.

[01:41] Leah: It's just speech therapy.

[01:42] Moshe: Speech therapy. It's just an amazing company, and we're lucky and very grateful to have their sponsorship. Arc therapeutics. We'll talk a lot more about them later on in the episode, but for right now, I do want to thank our new sponsor, Arc Therapeutics, who gave us a bunch of goodies this week.

[02:01] Leah: Yeah. So what they did was. And you can see the video. Was it on our Instagram or YouTube?

[02:06] Moshe: It's on our YouTube there. I think there's, like, there's a quickie.

[02:10] Leah: Like, short or something.

[02:12] Moshe: There's, like, a short that I was able to upload to our TikTok and our instagram. But the full episode, the full video episode of it, the kids unboxing the toys, and we talked about them, and you saw all the different things that Arc therapeutic sent us that can be found on our YouTube page.

[02:31] Leah: Yeah. So they went to great lengths to actually send us a whole box full of goodies, and they shipped them all the way to us here in the Middle east just so that we could unbox them and try them and talk about them on the show. And the children, as you'll see if you watch the video, are no strangers to chewy toys. And they're like, oh, look, it's the one we had with the ba ba ba. And look, it's the dinosaur reason being because Avram has been an ABBa chewer since, I think, before he had teeth. Jeweler, big chewer. If he doesn't have a chew stim toy with him, he'll chew on anything. His shirt, his headphones, your fingers.

[03:08] Moshe: For people that are not necessarily as familiar with stims, particularly oral stims, there's definitely a need to chew that. A lot of people, particularly autistics and other neurodivergents and a variety of other kinds of people will do. And it's done for a variety of reasons. And, I mean, if you think about having a baby that's currently teething and then they're chewing on everything to help with that, it's like that, except it continues right up until you're my age.

[03:42] Leah: Actually, there's some studies on that that show that babies will generally grow out of that, but people with autism, I guess, or sensory delays won't. And that's essentially what that is. We'll touch on that a bit. Also, there is a difference between all the other. I don't want to make arc sound like all the other chewy toy companies out there because there's a huge difference between this one and other ones that's actually important to us. And we'll discuss that in a bit. But first of all, I want to discuss why the need for oral sensory toys in general. So for the listeners out there who don't even know what a stim is, let's start at the basics. What's a stim?

[04:20] Moshe: Right. So stim, which, depending on who you ask, is short for stimulation seeking.

[04:28] Leah: I also read stereotypy. Like stereotypical behavior.

[04:32] Moshe: Stereotypical behavior for autistics or neurodivergence. Now, how can I best describe it?

[04:40] Leah: Repetitive body movements or repetitive movements?

[04:43] Moshe: So neurodivergence and other autistics, or I should say autistics and other neurodivergents, will seek stimulation, and they will seek it to add something, but they will also seek it to relieve something. And depending on who you ask, there's actually a really, really cool comedian who's autistic who you can find his material on YouTube. I forget his name.

[05:08] Leah: Oh, he doesn't stop moving. Right? The one that just keeps moving around.

[05:11] Moshe: Yes. To use the old timey language, his act is quite blue. So if you have young children, or they're definitely PG at least. But he describes it like he has golden retriever energy all the time. And what he says is that when he gets nervous, which happens when you're up on a stage being stared at by hundreds of people, it causes this overwhelming sense of feelings. All these feelings rush into you and you need to sort of relieve them, right?

[05:46] Leah: So for autistics, this is another thing that maybe neurotypicals don't understand, is even good feelings can be really overwhelming. This week, Moshe and Avram are both really out of sorts. They're both ecstatic to be here. We have a much better apartment now, but they're out of sorts just because even good feelings are completely overwhelming.

[06:06] Moshe: Because when you, when you say something like, I'm feeling overwhelmed, it instantly comes, brings to mind negative, negative. But in fact, one of the hallmarks of neurodivergence, and neurodiversity in general, is that you feel things a lot more than your average neurotypical I've learned, and.

[06:29] Leah: That I have to do, and it actually worked retroactively with me, was that I had to learn it for Moshe, and then I was able to apply to Abram, was that if something looks negative or overwhelming, the only way that you can actually know if the person is having a positive experience or a negative one is to discuss it with them, to ask them, and to communicate that. Because otherwise it can just look like it's a universally negative experience. Somebody likes screaming, running around, flapping their hands, or just being really stressed about what was it that you were fixating on? A bread knife or whatever it was. It seems like a negative experience, but you have to drill down and ask them what the root of that is. And sometimes it's not negative at all.

[07:08] Moshe: It's just a lot, right? It's a lot of different things. Because if I could break it down, and I can, because I'm gonna. Moving to where we live now has been a universally positive experience. It's a bigger place, there's a lot more around. It's a beautiful home that we've moved into.

[07:31] Leah: Yes, we're sitting in our sunroom doing the podcast right now.

[07:33] Moshe: We have a sunroom, but where everything is positive. It's very easy to find things that are not important because of how positive everything is. And it seems a bit counterintuitive. But the reality is it's not. Because if you are in a universally negative experience, then the negativity of the experience is so much so that nothing really else matters except of how negative it is. But if you're in a situation that is almost universally positive, you literally have to find a nitpicks in order to be able to relieve some of that, you know, golden retriever energy.

[08:19] Leah: Yeah. I feel like for you, it's more nitpick. For Avram, it's more stim. So pulling us back into the topic of stimming. He's falling over everything. He's smacked himself several times, actually. So have you because of unfamiliar surroundings. He's carrying things around with him. He's narrating his whole life. You know, I'm going to the bathroom. I'm doing this. I'm doing that because of this reason. So just sort of coming back to how stims will calm down. Like, you call that golden retriever energy or just that too much energy that any feeling of just. It's too much. Yeah.

[08:52] Moshe: Because even though it's a positive experience, it's new. The layout of the furniture is not the same. The smells are not the same. The feelings are not the same. The sounds are not the same. It's a new experience. And you can rationalize, if you're able to rationalize that it's a wonderful place, but there is going to be that lizard brain that's going to be like, that couch was never there before, and that sounds new and that smells new. And that object was a lot closer than it used to be. And that's something I haven't seen before. And that's something I'm not used to waking up next to. I'm not talking about you.

[09:32] Leah: Those are things that my brain can edit out, including you. No, I'm joking easily, so I don't need that, I guess. Comfort stimulating behavior or comfort seeking behavior. Whereas you and Afram might need it. And Raya, too, to a certain extent. She's been noodling on her guitar for hours. I'm sure that's helping. So what happens then when a stim, or let's just really drill down on that one. What happens when a stim happens in the mouth? So, for example, the need for a stim or the calming behavior happens in the mouth? I'm going to read just a really quick thing because I think it's good here. They called it oral fixation, which I don't agree with.

[10:12] Moshe: It's very freudian.

[10:12] Leah: Yeah. I think it's like an oral stim. It's when you feel the need to chew, suck, or hold an object in your mouth. This behavior is common for babies. This is what I was talking about earlier, but generally alleviates as the child ages. Chewing and stimming help with body awareness. It's a method of self soothing and can occur in children and adults. Some things that will influence oral stimming include task demands, physical and mental states, including energy levels and well being, the need to concentrate. You know, a lot of people will chew on the end of their pencils when they're doing their homework, distracting thoughts, overwhelming or new surroundings, intense emotions, anxiety and stress. So talk more about that.

[10:52] Moshe: Well, at its very basic level, we have to talk about the most sensitive parts of a person's body. And for a baby, when they don't really have a whole lot of control over much of anything, their mouth ends up being their main sensory portal. So everything goes in the mouth, everything is felt in the mouth, everything is experienced in the mouth. That looks interesting. It's going in my mouth. That looks fuzzy. I'm going to put it in my mouth. That looks warm. I'm going to stick it in my mouth. That looks cold. I'm going to put it in my mouth. The mouth has a lot of sensations in it, quite rightly, because that's what you use to taste and that's what you use to feel. And so when you think about it from that perspective, your first experience with sensation is going to come from your mouth, because your nerves may not be fully developed when you're very young, so grabbing something in your hand is not going to give you the same experience as it will with your mouth. And as you get older, you discover that things feel good on your skin. And, you know, we'll talk about some other things that, that feel good. Certain places in other episodes that, that we may want to discuss. But all of these things are linked to a part of your body that has a lot of. Of sensory, like a lot of nerve endings, a lot of nerve endings, especially.

[12:21] Leah: The mouth, because it's got feeling, it's got taste, and also an element of smell, because I can, you know, because.

[12:26] Moshe: You can smell through your mouth. But, I mean, it's so convenient. It's at the top of your body. It's like right in the middle of your head, kind of lower, lower middle, we'll say. So, if you have the opportunity to experience sensation, obviously you're going to grab things, but you're going to stick it in your mouth because it also gives you that element of pressure. So you can squeeze things with your fingers, but you can also bite down on them with your mouth.

[12:54] Leah: Yeah. So one thing that I can identify with is when I quit smoking and I had that stress feeling. Chewing on gum really rapidly or really hard would help with that situation. So that was an intense feeling of distress that was helped by sort of a pressure in my mouth.

[13:09] Moshe: Yes. Oral stimulation doesn't work like that for me because I'm autistic, and at my most basic level, I gain a lot of sensory input from that. So if you give me chewing gum, the package will be gone in about an hour. I'll just stick everything in my mouth and chew all of it and then spit it out and it's done.

[13:28] Leah: Yeah, but that's everything with you. Remember we had a discussion about how when we bought Halloween candy, a bowl can't be left on the table because you're going to eat all the candy, you know, so that's why we have a fruit bowl in the house now, because you'll just walk by and shove a bunch of fruit in your mouth.

[13:43] Moshe: It's really quite interesting because the vast majority of these studies and explanations come from children. But nobody spends. I say nobody, but I mean, not a lot of people spend a lot of time discussing the same experiences that a child exhibits in the form of an adult. Like you said, I might be the.

[14:04] Leah: First person that I know who's actually worked it backwards because you're so articulate that you're able to explain the things to me. But I never would have thought of, hey, don't put the candy on the table. Put a bowl of fruit. But it's been so successful. We're refilling the fruit bowl, like every two days.

[14:18] Moshe: Yes.

[14:19] Leah: Because you're all just walking by it and shoving it in your mouth.

[14:21] Moshe: Yes. And it's not a hunger thing. It's just, I like the way it tastes, so I'm going to put it in my mouth and it just happens to be like a grape or a peach or something.

[14:33] Leah: Yeah. So essentially what you taught me, not Avram, because he wasn't able to articulate that is what's in front of me, is going to go in my mouth. So make sure that it's not going to hurt me to eat ten of them.

[14:45] Moshe: Right. And some things are more. What's the word? I'm looking for more. There's more feedback for them than other things. Like if you give me one of those amazing oral stimulation toys that are going. Therapeutics manufacturers, I'll stick into my mouth and I'll walk around with it and I'll do stuff with it.

[15:06] Leah: Yeah. So I found it was so cool because this week, all three of you found at least a few of the toys that you claimed as your own and that you liked. The pencil toppers really work for Avram because he's an artist, and he can just always have something nearby for you. I don't know what you had, but the other day you were doing something, and you just popped something in your mouth, and then you were trying to talk, and. Oh, sorry, I forgot I had the stim toy in my mouth out.

[15:32] Moshe: Well, I was. I was sorting clothes on the bed because I was going through the bags that we were unpacking.

[15:38] Leah: You were asking me what to do with something, but it came out of.

[15:41] Moshe: And I found. I found a gift card for a grocery store that we thought we had lost, and in general, it was there. Like, I found one of those arc therapeutic chew things, and, of course, you know, went right into my mouth, and I just sort of mindlessly chewed on it while I was sorting the clothes. I like to do that while I'm focused on something. Like, when I drive, it's kind of. It feels nice to have something in my mouth while it helps me to concentrate. So, in a sense, I do still have that feedback, that positive feedback that comes with.

[16:15] Leah: I was very excited about the gift card because I thought, right.

[16:18] Moshe: But I forgot it was in my.

[16:19] Leah: Mouth, and it sounded like he scratched. Scared the living daylights out of everyone.

[16:25] Moshe: I didn't want to, like, take it out of my mouth and tell you, but I was very excited.

[16:31] Leah: And, I mean, Raya has a couple of as well that she wears around her neck, and she likes dinosaurs, so she's chewing on the dinosaur right now.

[16:37] Moshe: Yeah. And it's fun to do, to sort of focus yourself. Avrim does it a lot to soothe himself, whereas Raya and I are more about, like, this is kind of concentrating. It's just things that we do while we're doing something else, basically.

[16:52] Leah: Yeah. Abram has a higher need for chewing. That seems to be one of his main stims, whereas you two just sort of like it.

[17:00] Moshe: It's fun. It's something to do.

[17:01] Leah: We were very excited about partnering with arc therapeutic.

[17:05] Moshe: Absolutely.

[17:06] Leah: Let's talk about some destructive things that can happen when your child or as an adult, you have an intense, like, oral need, which I think we've experienced all of these. With Avrim, you might chew on inappropriate things like rocks, paper, toys, clothing, pens and pencils or their hands. You might constantly be eating spicy or sour foods because it's causing that feeling in your mouth. You may overeat which is what we were talking about. Just because you like the feeling in your mouth, you're not hungry. It's an unintentional overeating.

[17:39] Moshe: Yeah. It's like why Avram likes to eat sweet things. And he'll just eat every single candy that he has all at once.

[17:46] Leah: Yep.

[17:47] Moshe: Because it's a nice.

[17:48] Leah: Yeah, he'll eat a whole box of candy.

[17:50] Moshe: Like, just a whole box of, like, Mike and Ikes or something.

[17:53] Leah: Yeah.

[17:53] Moshe: If Mike and Ikes wants to sponsor us, they're welcome to it.

[17:56] Leah: We always have a crate of Mike and Ikes in the house.

[17:59] Moshe: We absolutely do.

[17:59] Leah: He's very motivated by them, actually.

[18:02] Moshe: They're a great carrot on a stick. They're a great carrot on.

[18:04] Leah: Except they're a candy.

[18:06] Moshe: They're a candy on a box. You should reach out to Mike and I.

[18:10] Leah: So, can we talk really quickly about Pica? Do you know what Pika is?

[18:14] Moshe: Yes. Pika is an interesting thing a lot. My grandmother actually had it. I don't know if it was Pika or she just thought she was a hamster. But she would constantly be putting things that she find on the ground or on the floor or on a shelf, and they would go right in her mouth, and then eventually she would stick it somewhere else. But a lot of children, what they like to do is that they see things, and then they stick them in their mouth. And it can result in them actually harming themselves.

[18:44] Leah: If they swallow, they eat them, and sometimes to the exclusion of actual food. So they're sensitive to food, but they'll eat something like soap or chalk or dirt. Because it doesn't cause their.

[18:54] Moshe: It's got an interesting feel to them.

[18:56] Leah: Yeah.

[18:57] Moshe: Cause when you're talking about stims, you're not just talking about the reason why you do it. You're also talking about the things that you're seeking. And a lot of people who have an oral stim are looking for textures or tastes. And unfortunately, sometimes, if they particularly like the feel or the taste of soap or sand or rocks or paperclips or coins or anything that they can fit in their mouth just to have an interesting taste. I don't like the taste of. Of coins, but me neither. But maybe that's something.

[19:34] Leah: I mean, I've been known to taste a play doh or two when I was young. I mean, I think everybody does it when they're young. The point is when it becomes problematic, like eating those things to the exclusion of foods or children not knowing the difference between edible and inedible things.

[19:50] Moshe: Right.

[19:51] Leah: Apparently, it's more common than I thought. Preschool age kids, so specifically two to five years old, were found to be affected up to 23% of the time in the autistic population. And it did go hand in hand with feeding difficulties.

[20:06] Moshe: Right. Because they're seeking textures or they're seeking tastes, either things that they do like or things that they don't like. And art therapeutics actually makes a variety of different textures and tastes and feel of things. And if you have one of their toys that your child likes to chew on, they recommend that you can put, like, a food on it. Like, you can dip something in peanut butter and have them sort of chew on that, and that's a way of getting it or something that you want them to eat.

[20:37] Leah: So that's what I was going to talk about next, actually, feeding difficulties in general. You've had them, but when you were younger, essentially your parents didn't have patience for it, so you went the other way, and you would literally eat anything. You became a really adventurous eater. Avram had them to the point where it became a behavioral problem. He wouldn't sit at the table. He'd make every meal time. Hell, he would throw his food. He would gag, he would spit things out, and ultimately it, you know, manifested into vomiting. And I took that seriously. I figured, well, somebody can't vomit on purpose, so if he's vomiting, then he can't handle the food. So essentially, he was losing food into the point where he was only eating, like, chicken nuggets, pizza, hot dogs, and fruit. I kept the fruit because I was like, he has some vitamins. And then you told me something else. So let's talk about that journey real quick in terms of feeding. And I promise it does come back to the toys, because, as you said, the toys can be used as a tool to expose your child to more foods, which ultimately is the solution. So let's talk about what your solution was for Avram. And he doesn't really eat that much still. And he'll sometimes put aside especially vegetables, but he eats, like, basically everything now. So let's talk about how you did that.

[21:55] Moshe: Well, I'm one of those autistics that the other autistics love to hate sometimes, because I look at all of those. Those challenges that some of the parents and caregivers face, and I just kind of shake my head because I live them in my own way. If I didn't live them, then I experienced them. And one of the things that I dislike the most is the term safe food. Because in general, if you have.

[22:20] Leah: I had it all. I had safe foods. I had a safety plate where he could spit things out or put things from the plate he was eating into another way. I had all of it. It just actually made everything worse. Each day, things were getting worse, because.

[22:32] Moshe: Really, what you're doing is you're training yourself. You're not training the child. And feeding difficulties are just that. They're difficulties. They're not a barrier that prevents things from happening. They are an obstacle that can very well overcome. And that's where a company like art therapeutics and other companies that specialize in handling feeding difficulties come from. And essentially, what it really comes down to is if you want the child to eat a certain food, you have to put it in front of them, and they have to try it. And if they don't like it, then they don't have to eat it. But it can be done in any number of ways. There are plenty of foods that Abram will swear up and down that he hates. But then if it's cooked the right way or it's mixed in with foods he does like, or if it has a certain sauce on it that he likes, he'll eat whatever you put in front of him.

[23:22] Leah: Barbecue sauce on a sponge. He'll eat it.

[23:24] Moshe: If you, you know, he's really into sauces. So if you. If you cover vegetables in barbecue sauce, I'm sure you could persuade him to eat them.

[23:31] Leah: He eats some on his own now. He loves mushrooms. He loves onions. He ate corn today, most of it.

[23:36] Moshe: Because the thing with Aubreman, of course, if you know one autistic, you know one autistic, and if you know one feeding difficulty, you know one feeding difficulty. And I'm not at all insinuating that all of them can be overcome, or all of them can be overcome in the same way, because everyone's different. And if you don't, like, say, brussels sprouts, then you're just that. That's your. Your challenge. But if you want your child to expand their diet beyond chicken nuggets and pizza and hot dogs and whatnot, then you really do have to put them there and make it a concerted effort for them to at least try it. And if they don't like it, they don't like it. But you have to temper their reactions. It doesn't have to be projectile vomiting every time they try a food they don't like.

[24:20] Leah: And, I mean, it's not like we remove those foods. He still gets them them, but sometimes we'll replace them with vegan nuggets. He doesn't know, especially, again, if we put the barbecues also ketchup.

[24:30] Moshe: Right. And I mean, you have to start with, you have to at least try. You have to at least try one bite, but you have to give him an escape. You have to say, if you try it and you absolutely don't like it, then you just politely spit it out and put it aside. No one's going to force you to eat it, but we'd like you to try it.

[24:47] Leah: And it has hard limits that we do respect. But I usually take your lead on those. So, for example, he'll eat the vegan chicken that actually tastes like chicken, even though it's soy or whatever is in there.

[24:57] Moshe: Soy, another example.

[24:57] Leah: But if we try to give him a patty that's filled with corn or broccoli or something, he's an absolute no on that. But he's tried it, and you've been like, okay, we don't have to do that because it's too different. It looks like something else, and it's not that thing.

[25:11] Moshe: There's always alternatives. The problem that I have with safe foods in general is you're essentially creating a list of foods that they will eat rather than a list of foods that they won't eat. And I feel that if you try hard enough and you get creative and you at least give them an opportunity to develop their preferences. And if you know what their preferences are, like, he won't eat vegetables, but he really loves barbecue sauce. Try putting barbecue sauce on the vegetables. Or he likes sweet things, but he doesn't like vegetables. Maybe find, like, there's some peppers that are, like, really sweet, or maybe find, you know, maybe dip the carrots and sugar or something. You know, there's lots of things you can try. And I think that if you really work at it and you're creative, then you can almost always try to find maybe not all the foods you want them to eat, but a lot of them.

[26:05] Leah: And also, I find a great motivation is when somebody that they admire eats the thing, right?

[26:09] Moshe: If they like a particular parent or they like a particular friend or they like a sibling, you go, look how much this person loves this. And the other thing that I have no patience for is when other people at the table say things like, I hate this food because all you're doing is you're encouraging the autistic, who's a lot of the time going to be a perfect mirror to say, well, if they hate cottage cheese, then I'm okay hating these 20 different foods that I don't like.

[26:41] Leah: Yeah.

[26:42] Moshe: There's a difference between I hate this food and I don't particularly enjoy the taste of it. Like, for example, Brussels sprouts. I don't hate Brussels sprouts. I don't particularly like them. But if you put them in front of me and they're cooked a certain way, I'll at least try to have a few.

[26:57] Leah: Yeah. We have a saying in our house. I wouldn't go out of my way to put it on my plate, but it's fine.

[27:01] Moshe: Exactly.

[27:02] Leah: Yeah. So that's where all of these products that Ark offers help. So not just with the feeding. I know we spent the last little bit talking about feeding, but all of the issues. So putting foreign objects in the mouth or chewing on things that are inappropriate. Or biting your fingernails or feeding your friend. Yeah, biting your friend, biting your dad. Anyway. Or feeding issues, that's where they all come in. I want to talk a little bit about chew toys and why they were important to us with Abram, and I want to talk about why I discovered that arc is different than the other ones. So chewies have always been really important to Avram. From the time he was a toddler, he was always covered in drool. Like, his entire front was always covered in drool. He was always chewing on his clothes, or he was always chewing on, I don't know, his friends or his toys, whatever he could get his mouth on. And it wasn't for any aggression or anything. It was always his main stim seems to be in his mouth. That and, like, sort of moving around in general and falling over things, but that's maybe a different issue. So very early on, we seeked out things for him to chew on, and that's when I discovered jewelry. However, not all jewelry is made equal, so I spent a lot of money on toys that were not strong enough for his chewing level.

[28:23] Moshe: By the way, we mean jewelry the item and not jewelry. The company. There is a company called jewelry.

[28:29] Leah: Yeah. So when I say jewelry, I mean the items. So bracelets or necklaces that you could wear, that you can chew on. There is a company in a brand named jewelry, but I'm talking about the items, not the company. And I spent lots of money on. On different brands and different companies, and none of them could stand up to his. His chewing strength. His. His chewing.

[28:51] Moshe: Chewy.

[28:52] Leah: That's chewing. You know, that's a term that Ark uses, which I very much like for your avid chewer. So he would go through a stim toy a day, and then we'd have to sort of cut off the end because he was eating silicone. So that was where we had a difficulty, was he needed the thing, but he was destroying the thing. We got to the point where we actually considered getting him, like, a Kong dog toy, because he was just destroying everything.

[29:18] Moshe: They make these. These really great kongs, because if you have a dog that. That is a very strong chewer, like a pit bull or a boxer or something, there's these little black kongs that are, like, super duper tough, made for, like, attack dog things.

[29:33] Leah: I mean, we couldn't bring ourselves to do it in the end, but we were considering it, because he was just destroying everything, pretty much.

[29:40] Moshe: And then we found arc therapeutics, and.

[29:42] Leah: That'S where Ark is different, because they will make every toy in one of three different toughness levels, and they will make each toy, I'm assuming, also in each color, in each theme, they have.

[29:55] Moshe: Different colors, different themes, different shapes, different textures, different, different, different. But the one thing that I really like about them is they'll actually make every toy in all three toughness levels. Yeah.

[30:09] Leah: So those who have dealt with this before will understand. I feel like maybe we're an exclusive club, but maybe we're not. Let us know. Will understand that sometimes you could get the tough toys, but not in the shape the child likes or the color the child likes, or they really want a dinosaur, but the toughness only comes in the donut.

[30:26] Moshe: Exactly.

[30:27] Leah: And when I found art that really spoke to me, because there were so many times when everyone was like, I really just want a red spider. And it was like, a light chewer level, and we were like, we can't get that for you. You're going to destroy it. And I. We felt so bad.

[30:43] Moshe: Yeah. I mean, there are companies out there, like. Like Leah said, where we. We would go to the page for the tough chewers, and there was, like, three or four or five shapes, and.

[30:53] Leah: Avram and the tough chewers, he managed.

[30:55] Moshe: To get through it, and then Avram would be like, but I want a dinosaur or I want a Lego piece. And we were like, oh, you know, the Lego pieces, they're only for light chewers. And we were like, wow, this. This is. This is so bad. Like, why? Why can't my child have the texture and shape that he likes in the toughness that he needs?

[31:14] Leah: Yeah. So that was, for me, a huge difference between AHRQ and all the other providers, and I'm very, very grateful to them for that. They do have three color coded toughness levels. From what I see here, they go from mild to moderate to avid, which Abram is avid in everything.

[31:31] Moshe: Definitely avid.

[31:33] Leah: They have bracelets, pencil toppers, handheld options for people who don't like to wear things around their neck. But for those who do, like the, you know, the original concept of having it around their neck, they have those.

[31:45] Moshe: You know, pull release, easy break necklaces. So if they pull on it. And what I really like about those necklaces, and it's just like, it's a little thing, because all of these companies, of course, the ones that have the necklaces, they have. They have the breakaway necklaces because they have to. But what I really liked about these breakaway necklaces is they break away if you're, like, strangulating yourself.

[32:06] Leah: But they don't.

[32:06] Moshe: They don't just, like, pop off over for nothing. Like, if you. If you give them a good tug, a lot of the time, they will stay on, and if you keep pulling, they will break. But they don't come out like that easy. So you can. Because sometimes you're, like, just idly pulling on it and it's just falling apart in your hands. And the necklaces, for whatever reason, they don't break apart as easy as some of the other companies. And I really appreciate that.

[32:31] Leah: Yeah. Well, I think it has to do with the fact that the owner's husband is an engineer, isn't he?

[32:37] Moshe: Yes.

[32:37] Leah: And he probably helped design all this stuff because it's also made of a different material. It's made out of medical grade tpe and elastomer. I don't even know what that is, but I'm impressed. It's similar to silicone, but way more durable and hard wearing, which we notice the difference immediately, because no matter how tough the silicone is, within a day album is chewing through it. And these, I think they're still whole, actually. I would like to check and take pictures for the public, maybe an interesting.

[33:04] Moshe: Test, and I really hope that our sponsor doesn't get offended, but I'll admit that I was curious. So we put one of the two toys in with my daughter's gerbil. And rodents are heavy chewers, especially gerbils, and they are still going at that toy, and they have not managed to shoe through it. And, I mean, if you want to put it on your website, Kit tested, gerbil approved, they cannot get through that toy. So if it's tough enough for an animal that's literal existence is about chewing things, then what does that say about the quality of the material?

[33:40] Leah: I mean, we're big on that because it's important to us, because given Abrams history, which we've talked about, but they do want everybody to know. It's important to note that no chew is indestructible. Jaws can be very strong, and how long a chew lasts for each person really varies depending on several different variables. So for some people, the softest chew will last them forever, like for you, probably. And for other people, they may be able to chew through it quickly. So it really depends.

[34:07] Moshe: Definitely. And of course, they recommend that once it's starting to get worn and broken, to take it away and replace it. But the thing that I really like about the arc therapeutic toys is they are made with food grade material. So in the event that, heaven forbid, a piece of it does break off and the kid swallows it, it's not going to hurt them. It's not something that would actually harm their body. Although not recommending that you swallow them.

[34:34] Leah: No, of course, like any other tool, if you see that it's breaking, you should take it away and replace it.

[34:39] Moshe: Yeah, but if they do bite a piece off of it or whatever, you don't have to rush them to the ER, necessarily.

[34:45] Leah: And they're also very big on the fact that both kids and adults use them. And we were noting that is very interesting because most studies and most things out there are designed for kids, and you're rightly sort of there sitting there going, well, what about me?

[34:59] Moshe: Yeah. Arc therapeutics has a really great philosophy where if there's a need, whatever it is, they're willing to consider it. And so much of the things that are made for neurodivergence and autistics are made for children, and they're studied on children, and they're tested on children. But when I go to work, I mean, I don't bring a chu choi to work, but there are people who are my age or older or younger, I mean, I'm not that old, that do have the same oral stimuli that Avram has, and they need something that they can take and chew on. And maybe they don't want to take, like, a pink dinosaur to work. Maybe they want something that's a little bit more discreet, that's not in a flashy color, maybe something that could easily be confused with just like, an ordinary necklace. And if they can discreetly chew on it if they need to, it's there. Yep.

[35:53] Leah: So they do suggest, even though it's for adults and children, that there's a minimum of five years for sure, which I think we can all agree with. And as you mentioned, adults might prefer one of their more neutral or discreet designs. Two that they specifically mentioned were the crypto bite and the toothpick. Yep. So if you want to look at their website, you can certainly see that.

[36:14] Moshe: And we do have a really interesting offer that we are going to talk about at the end, if you want to. And we certainly encourage you to go on the Arc therapeutics website and check it out. And if you want to buy some stuff, we have a goodie to offer.

[36:29] Leah: And honestly, their shipping is very good because it made it to us here in Jerusalem in a week. So I can imagine if you're in the states or Canada, it's going to be quite quick.

[36:37] Moshe: Yeah, they're out of South Carolina, I do believe. So if you do live in the United States, it got to us really quickly. We were so surprised. But if you don't happen to live, like, across the world, you happen to live in the United States or Canada. I imagine they would get to you even sooner.

[36:57] Leah: Yeah. I think the theme of the day is in terms of AHRQ therapeutics, and we're not just saying this because they're sponsoring us. We are impressed, impressed, impressed, impressed, impressed. Talk a little bit about the history of the company and why you're so impressed with them.

[37:11] Moshe: Absolutely. So one of the things that I always said when we started this podcast was I wanted to fill a need. I wanted to create a podcast that was not going to be like the other autistic podcast types out there. And art therapeutic really does have just an amazing, amazing story because there's a lot of different companies out there that do sell a variety of things, but we wanted something that was different and just. I'll give you a bit of a blurb. It was founded by Debbie Lausky. I believe. If I'm mispronouncing, and I apologize, Debbie and John were. It was founded by Debbie and John. John's an engineer. Debbie is a. Is a speech and a language pathologist. And it was founded because there just wasn't a lot of. There wasn't a lot of tools in the United States in the early two thousands that. That filled the need. And John, being an engineer, worked with Debbie and they came up with some really, really awesome toys. The company itself is special because every product is made in the United States. So all the jobs are fair wage jobs. They get benefits. It's a great environment to work. And I'm told Debbie and John first met when they were five years old. So they have us beat by two years.

[38:40] Leah: Oh, my goodness. I didn't know that.

[38:42] Moshe: So it was really a big deal to have a company representing us that was founded by a couple that also knew each other when they were very young.

[38:53] Leah: Love at first bite, if you will.

[38:54] Moshe: Debbie and John both grew up in the same state. They grew up in New Jersey. They lived 1 sq. Mi. From each other in the same little town in New Jersey. So they were all together. Their children are a big part of their business. They started arc therapeutics in their garage. So they really built it from the ground up. Everything that they do was molded in house by John and their son Evan.

[39:20] Leah: They do have some really unique stuff. So, I mean, we did talk about the jewelry objects, which are familiar, but they had some really cool things. Their pencil toppers are amazing. They have this one thing that's just like this huge gingerbread man that you can just shove in your mouth. They do have some very unique products that you should definitely check out to see if they meet your needs or just for coolness factor.

[39:42] Moshe: They've been in business for about 21 years. Excellent customer service. Every single thing that they make is made, like I said, right? In the United States, in Columbia, South Carolina, they have things for jaw strings, for speech therapy, for, you know, for. They have something called a lip lock. That is, it just blows my mind. You put it at the top of a straw to teach your child how to suck using a straw, right. So they're like. It trains their tongue retraction and lip closure and cheek tension.

[40:16] Leah: That's true. So we did talk a lot about Auburn's need to chew, but we didn't talk a lot about the feeding help that they could give. So let's talk a little bit about that as well.

[40:25] Moshe: They have just gonna go quickly through their website. They have a lot of toys. The grabber or the waichu or the guitar that Ark says is really good at helping your child or adult. I mean, let's. Let's not limit it to children. Practice their. Their biting and chewing skills and work on oral motor exercises. Like I said, the lip block, which you put into the top of a straw that. That helps your child learn how to suck lip gloss.

[40:52] Leah: Think that when I was little, I pretty sure that I sucked up a few straws into my mouth. Like, I can see that. Definitely.

[41:00] Moshe: You. You see people, like, they stick the straw in the drink or whatever, and they just stick the straw in their mouth and drink it like nothing. But you don't really think of all the work with your tongue and your mouth that goes into it. And that a lot of children do struggle with the concept of how to use a straw, and this helps with that. They have the bear bottle, which is just a really fun way if your child likes little animals, of having your child have a drinking bottle that they can look at is so cute. They have two things. They have a vibe. They have a vibrating toy with a spoon attachment. What they do is they attach it to. They attach a spoon attachment to the z vibe, and they put the food on the spoon, and then they put the spoon in the mouth, and they turn it on, and the child instinctively closes his mouth over it so it gets the food into them because they couldn't get the child to close his mouth around the spoon.

[42:08] Leah: That's interesting.

[42:08] Moshe: So they do the vibe, and it makes the child close their mouth on it, and they're able to feed them a lot easier that way, and they can get some food.

[42:15] Leah: What's interesting to me is actually, I don't intrinsically understand that concept. But you've seen, too.

[42:20] Moshe: There's this testimonial on the website from Brittany. It says, the z vibe has done wonders for our son. He started putting his spoon further into his mouth, and then last night, he finally ate his entire dinner. We were both beyond thrilled, and I wish we had gotten this amazing tool earlier. I can't wait for feeding therapy on Monday so he can show his therapist that he knows how to eat using a spoon.

[42:43] Leah: That's amazing.

[42:45] Moshe: So it's just, it's a lot of really, really good success stories, and they're really helping a lot of families. They have chew toys that are meant for the front teeth. They have chew toys that are meant to strengthen the back teeth. They have toys that are meant to fit entirely in their mouth. They have toys that are meant to fit just a little bit in their mouth, so they don't, like, chew and swallow them. They, of course, have the bear bottle. They have the z vibe with toothbrush attachments and pencil attachments and spoon attachments and. And everything for. And, of course, the pencil toppers. Who amongst us is not chewing on our pens or pencils while we're trying to write? Abram, like you said, is a great artist. And he.

[43:31] Leah: All day yesterday, I watched him just drawing and chewing on the ends of his pencils, and I didn't have to worry about it for the first time ever.

[43:39] Moshe: And they gave us some great pencil toppers.

[43:42] Leah: Yeah, because you told them that he was an artist, and they sent us things that they thought we could use.

[43:47] Moshe: And they were bang on and he was, he was drying, he was coloring, he was shading, and he was chewing on the pencil topper instead of, you know, the pencil, which was really great for him. And it was really good for the pencil, apparently. So it's. It's arc therapeutics. They are an amazing sponsor. And speaking of sponsors, I would be remiss if I didn't thank every one of our listeners once again for tuning in to now, you know, one autistic podcast. It's great to be back after a brief recess to do the move. Thank you so, so much for all of your downloads, for all of your listening, for all of your sharing. We are reaching listeners all across the United States, of course, and all across Canada, nearly every province in Canada and every state in the United States. We're building up some amazing listeners in the United Kingdom and Scotland and England and Wales and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We have, of course, our listeners in Australia. You may have heard some ads when you're listening to this podcast or other podcasts, and we noticed that a lot of them are aimed at some of our australian listeners. Our listeners in New Zealand, of course, we have lots of listeners here in Israel and listeners in Germany and Sweden and Norway and Netherlands. Just so many new people. Keep listening. Keep tuning in. And we are. We are just so grateful. You can subscribe on 90 one autistic dot pawbean.com. we do have a PayPal link there. We do have our Patreon if you want to send a few dollars our way to help keep the podcast running. We are. Leah and I are just so, so grateful for all of your support. Please, please, please keep downloading, keep listening, keep sharing, and keep helping us be successful.

[45:36] Leah: Absolutely. So back to AhRQ therapeutic. I'm actually looking at the website now and it strikes me, actually how affordable, first of all, the tools are.

[45:47] Moshe: Absolutely.

[45:48] Leah: And second of all, how they actually have instructions on how to use them, including helpful pictures and videos for some of the items. So go ahead and check them out. I probably will be checking them out myself later because we may actually order despite having them sponsor us.

[46:07] Moshe: We got a nice little gift package from them, but we are happy to give them our business. They are a great family run company with some amazing products. And are we going to give out the coupon now?

[46:21] Leah: Absolutely. And we should also put it on our website and all of our social media.

[46:25] Moshe: Yep. So if you want to try out some of arc therapeutics products, you can go to their website. Just Google search arc therapeutics or therapeutic. I keep adding the s at the end. It's arc therapeutic. And if you enter the coupon code now, you know ten when you check out, you'll get 10% off the order. And that coupon code is going to be working, I've been told, until at least the end of the year. We're hoping that they will either give us a new one or extend it. So we really, really, really encourage you to go to the website, order a few products for yourself, use the code and buy a bunch of their stuff. They're a wonderful company. They're a really good sponsor. We are so lucky that they have partnered with us to help support our podcast, and we are happy to partner with them to help get some of their amazing products out there.

[47:21] Leah: Amazing.

[47:21] Moshe: Now you know, ten again. I'll put it on the website. I'll put it on the social media. Nowyouknow the number ten. 10. I don't believe it's case sensitive. Place an order, use the coupon code, and check out everything that they offer.

[47:39] Leah: Absolutely. Final thoughts.

[47:41] Moshe: The, the world of stimming is, is not as shameful as it used to be. I like to tell the story often. When I was Avram's age, I would love to go into my sister's bedroom, sorry, Kathy. And play music. And I would just run around her room waving my hands and just loving how it felt. I don't do that so much anymore because when an adult does that, it does tend to get a few looks. But if you have a child that is so excited that they flap their hands or they spin around or they stim, then definitely it's not a negative behavior. It's just them expressing themselves. And of course, if you go to arc therapeutic and use the now, you know, ten coupon code, you can buy some amazing things that they can chew on to help out with some of those stimming behaviors. See you next week. We're back to our regular recording schedule and we'll have some amazing new things to talk about next week. Thank you once again to Arc Therapeutic for sponsoring this podcast. We are so grateful to have your support.

[48:51] Leah: See you next week.

[48:52] Moshe: See you next week. Well, that's our show for today. Now you know one autistic just a little bit better. So something you may not know about some autistics is that we often struggle with ending social interactions. So, Leah.

[49:10] Leah: All right, Moshe. I'll take care of it. Thank you for letting us listening to now you know one autistic. See you next week.



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