Is thumb sucker being honest?

Hi Sandra! We have a patient that has begun the thumb sucking problem.  He puts Sockie Helper on when he goes to bed, but his mom states that it is not on in the morning.  HE claims that he did not suck his thumb during the night, but we are not sure.  He has been putting his stickers on the chart, but we are concerned he is not being honest.  Any suggestions to dealing with this issue??

Hi, We went over this possibility in class, but it is hard to remember every teenie part.  I’ll try to refresh your memory of this: If the parent sees that the Sockie is off before she herself goes to bed, she is to put it back on him.  In the A.M., she tells the child that Sockie “fell” off.  Tell him “If Sockie comes off and you catch yourself sucking your thumb at night….that is great!  And if you pull it right out, then it still counts  for the ten days”  Let’s start again and we’ll put some paper tape lightly on the bottom of Sockie and your arm to “remind” you to keep it on all night long. The mom should be careful to always use the new name the child chose for his Sockie so as to personalize it even more in the child’s mind.  He must think of Sockie as a being, as a friend who is there to remind him to do what he himself decided to do.  He has to be encouraged to catch himself and pull it out right away…to think that putting thumb inside his mouth is a habit, but he “caught” himself doing it and stopped…yay yay yay, etc.  He mustn’t think that Sockie stops him or that anything is from the outside acting upon him.  Everything is because HE decided to quit, HE chose a name for HIS helper friend and HE can now catch himself right away and pull the thumb out. This is most all psychology.  If the child is doing it for himself, he succeeds.  If he is doing it for a prize or person, it will not work.  I hope this helps…let me know. Sandra