Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi I’ve only just joined. We don’t have a diagnosis yet for our 11 year old daughter (assessment due to take place on 2 February) but it is suspected that she will be diagnosed with Aspergers and possible ADHD.
A current issue we are struggling to manage is the fact that she doesn’t want to wash. When we tell her she needs to shower there’s always a reason why she can’t or won’t. She really smells. She knows she smells but still won’t get in the shower. She says if we keep telling her to do it she won’t.
Had anyone else experienced this behaviour?
Personal hygiene and cleanliness are two different things. Hygiene washing to prevent the spread of disease and bacteria.Cleanliness is to clean away dirt on a more surface level. Washing hands before preparing food and before and after preparing meat and produce is hygiene. Washing hands after going to the toilet, washing before eating etc. Cleanliness means things like showering, bathing. Needed less often than hygiene. It's actually not that good for us to shower/bath every day. Maybe you could persuade to do it at least once a week to begin with. That doesn't sound like much to most people, but it's perhaps better than none? And you can maybe slowly persuade an increase to shower maybe twice a week. At the very least you could suggest she cleans under her armpits most days without actually showering. As that is probably where most of the smell is coming from, and it's not the sweat itself that smells. Sweat is odourless, it's the bacteria and the breakdown of the sweat itself that makes the smell.