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Is Your Asperger’s Child Struggling with Personal Hygiene? Sensory Issues Could Be to Blame.

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Does your autistic or Asperger’s child fight you when you want him/her to shower, or change their clothing? Do they avoid brushing their teeth unless forced to? Is a trip to the barber shop for a haircut a struggle? They may be experiencing sensory difficulties associated with these everyday tasks. Understanding where the difficulty is stemming from can help you to work through some of these issues.

Sensory Processing Disorder

Many autistic children experience difficulty with sensory processing; sensory processing dysfunction (SPD). Their sensory systems are in a constant state of overdrive. The world around them can be over-stimulating and over-whelming. Their hyper-senses can be troublesome even when faced with the seemingly simple everyday tasks of personal hygiene and grooming.

Brushing Teeth

Your child needs many reminders to brush his/her teeth; they may be simply forgetting, or they may be avoiding brushing like the plague. For many autistic children brushing teeth can be a painful experience. First the toothbrush may actually hurt. The brushing up and down, and side to side, can feel like someone is scouring your gums with steel wool-even when the bristles on the brush are soft. A friend of mine told me about her son who didn’t like brushing his teeth (or gums) and due to this, he had to have a gum disease treatment. I can totally understand why some autistic children don’t like the feel of brushing their teeth but it’s something that just has to be done. Brushing the tongue is even worse, like sandpaper trying to scrape your skin off, and an enhanced gag reflex (when sensitive in this area) is most often triggered when the tongue is touched. Additionally, the taste or smell of the toothpaste may make the child gag, and brushing with cold water may feel like being punched in the mouth. Overall, a painful, unpleasant experience that most neuro-typical, person without autism, do not experience. We know it can be a struggle, so maybe aiming for your child to brush their teeth once a day would be a more achievable target and then aim to see the dentist every months. The West Allis Dental Care provides family dentistry, dental implants and other cosmetic dentistry procedures in Milwaukee WI. Therefore, you can all go to the same dentist, no matter what the issue is and it can be recognised as a familiar place. Making your trip that tiny bit easier.

Showering

Standing under the flow of a shower head can be a similar experience. The water flow and temperature are usually an issue for persons with sensory processing difficulties. On particularly sensitive days the water flow can feel like “shards of glass” tricking down onto your skin-unnerving at best, and painful at worst. A soft shower flow is typically worse for the sensitive child than a powerful flow. It is very similar to the difference between a soft touch and a firm squeeze. Autistic people tend to shy away from a soft wispy touch like when someone lighted brushes their arm, but are comfortable with a firm hold. In addition to the shower flow, due to temperature regulation issues, the water may constantly feel too hot, or too cold.

Face and Hair Washing

If the child is avoiding washing their hair in the bath or shower, it may be because of the flow of water over their faces. This waterfall over their eyes and mouths can cause a feeling of panic. In addition to the possibility of soap reaching sensitive eyeballs, the water running over the nose can give you the feeling of not being able to breathe. Even when they are tolerating showers fairly well, washing hair, and allowing water in their faces from a flowing source can be problematic.

Getting a Hair Cut

The barbershop is a scary place. There are strange people, loud sounds, and buzzing noises that are getting increasingly close to your head. A stranger is approaching with a pointy metal object, and you are being held down by someone larger than you in order to be “kept still.” The scissor is cold, and making a “scraping” sound and feels like someone is running nails down a blackboard, and the buzzing is making your teeth hurt. The buzzer gets closer, and now your head is vibrating from the movement in addition to the sound. Sound scary? It is for the autistic child. We all know that getting a hair cut is a necessity for everyone, and barbershops often try to get the best trimmers for barbers so they can make the experience as comfortable as possible, but for an autistic child, it often can be frightening. These sights and sounds that you may be accustomed to, or not even hear, are amplified to your child’s ears. It feels like the whole world is being played in surround sound, even when no one else hears the noise.

Why Didn’t They Tell Me?

They simply think that you already know. These sounds and sensations are a part of their everyday lives and it does not occur to them that everyone does not experience life the same way-an example of “mind-blindness.” The assumption is that you feel the hurtful water, taste nauseating toothpaste, and hold your breath when you wash your hair. They also may not be able to pinpoint or articulate what they are feeling easily. But-now that you know, there are some things you can do to help.

What Can I Do?

Understand; understanding what your child could be experiencing will help you find ways to make their lives easier-and yours as well. No one enjoys a power struggle over tooth brushing. Be willing to try new products. Try changing the toothpaste; you may need to go through many flavors and textures to find one that is tolerable. Use different toothbrushes; some children will find that soft brushes work best, while others will want the firm feeling. Don’t require them to brush their tongue if it is uncomfortable. You can also get some advice from your local dentist like Dentist Framingham to see if there are any other methods you could try. Experiment with both hot and warm water when brushing, or you can even try finding a watery toothpaste and brush without water rinsing with a children’s mouthwash that they enjoy. Allowing a bath when possible in lieu of a shower can help. The water will be a more consistent temperature and there is no rain from above making the bath more comfortable and soothing. If a bath is not feasible, ensuring the temperature of the water and the room is as consistent as possible. The smell of shampoos and bath soaps can be a source of soothing and comfort for some, and having the choice their own scents can make bathing more enjoyable.

Distinguishing between disobedience and avoidance can be a challenge. If your child has developed a habit of avoiding these tasks due to the unpleasant way they are experiencing them, it may take a while to eliminate this avoidant behavior. They many need multiple reminders and encouragement to take the initiative where their personal hygiene is concerned. Use frequent reminders or a list so your child knows which tasks to perform every day. A chart and reward system can also help to remind and motivate them. Behavioral, occupational, and sensory integration therapies can help when needed.

Jeannie Davide-Rivera

Jeannie is an award-winning author, the Answers.com Autism Category Expert, contributes to Autism Parenting Magazine, and the Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. She lives in New York with her husband and four sons, on the autism spectrum.

6 Comments:

  1. Sorry guys, huge flood in the kitchen, and construction on the staircase…crazy crazy insane. I am really sorry I will work on this sight…these links should not be broken. I keep having problems with my answers.com articles…don’t know why the links are giving me trouble.

    I knew I would be very very crazy over this summer and past few weeks has been nuts with the kids and everything so these posts were all scheduled over a month ago to keep information following to you guys while I was”offline” it seems they are causing much frustration!

    Kids will be back to school next week, and I will have more time to get to work on it…this week is also school semester then three week break (thank God!!!) so again I am really really sorry, and will get to them, and back to all of you guys as soon as I possibly can….

  2. also, why do we have to click “read more” anyway? why cant we link right to the article? it opens a whole new page and everything… its an extra step i dont need to make on my ancient slow dinosaur of a computer. 🙁

    • Links to the selective mutism, and hygiene articles are fixed. Since I wrote the articles for answers.com I thought it proper to post the article but link to the their cite. This way all my autism articles can be found through my website in one place. The issues with the links is driving me a bit nuts though since it seems to be an ongoing problem and I am not sure if it is a problem on the answers.com side, or on my site. I am hoping that there will be less broken links in the future. It is going to take me a while to get through all my articles (there are over 100 for answers.com) in order to test the links.

  3. having the same problem. have written multiple times multiple ways… so i dont know whats going on. mom, 4 kids, hubby, … shes busy, but really, you cant keep posting and not find out whats going on with these links. this is not the only one thats broken. i remember one recently about selective mutism also that was broken as well, and was still broken when i checked a few days ago… :/

  4. Clicked “read more”, got “not found”.

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