Getting a hair cut for most of us can be a very pleasant experience. We look forward to time out, chatter and being pampered.
From an early age we take our normally developing children along with a hairdresser or barber. Where the terms of the relaxed atmosphere of calm and will usually pick up on body language given off by customers in the store enjoying a haircut.
However, if your child is autistic this normal everyday activities can be distressing and painful experience.
Children with autism are very sensitive and having someone touch and cut your hair can be alarming.
The first thing to consider is why?, an autistic child can not understand the need for a haircut, why would they want their hair when they were just fine the way it is ...
They do not understand the need to go to this strange and smelly place and sit in a chair that they can feel uncomfortable and wear a dress made of materials that can be harsh and hurt their skin.
a simple hair wash ... using smelly shampoo that may be offensive to their oversensitive noses, the impression shower spray head can cause discomfort. towel around his neck again could feel uncomfortable, abrasive and harsh. the act of rubbing the hair dry could cause anxiety triggers are.
then brushing your hair, brush your hair may have been wrong color or too hard ... scissors may actually hurt their head as they cut the hair, the noise is happening around them low drone on a haircut. noise of people talking, sudden laughter, all noises we can block out as background noise ... the autistic child these noises can be more power ... sharp rattle of scissors a blow dryer ...
the smell of hair products, perfume, deodorant, aftershave ... can all be on the power of autistic persons senses.
These are all anxiety triggers and more, shop alone decor, furniture people in it ...
Having an autistic child will never be just a normal everyday thing like a haircut is always going to be hard ... However, there are some steps you can take that can help make this activity a little easier to deal with ..
Try taking along a toy or portable DVD player a distraction of some sort, to distract from some of the sensory happenings around them.
Get your self autism social stories and begin to implement these before the event, get your autistic child used to the idea of getting a haircut by reading the social story to them.
good will explain why your child should visit the hairdresser and what can we expect when we get there and what other people will expect from them.
These valuable short pieces of text can actually help parents better cope with these and other challenges that have autistic children causes.
Get social skills for getting the story and the other from
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