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Hair cutting and dressing

shopgirl

Can anybody help! How on earth do I get my son (3.5yrs) to have his hair cut without having a meltdown? Until a few months ago he was not so bad but recently has decided this hurts. I've done all the prep with social stories, role play on teddy, images on the internet & YouTube. We even said grandma could do it at home so it was someone and where familiar. Help!!!!

also we've been working towards teaching him to dress himself for a while now but it's going so slowly. I read something yesterday that suggested it's common for kids with asd to never learn to dress themselves. Is this true?

Parents

  • I'm still struggling with this with my 4 1/2 year old.  He HATES having his hair cut but can be persuaded to suffer for a short time.  I found the following things helpful:

    - find a nice hairdresser who is sympathetic, and willing to listen to you

    - prepare your child so they know what is coming, but don't talk too much about it so they get anxious.  just enough so it is not a suprise

    - we avoid having the cape over him as he hates it, and we don't let the hairdresser spray water on his head.  if she needs his hair damp she wets the comb and combs the water in

    - distraction during haircutting - iPad games or whatever the current favourite is. Singing, counting, spelling or anything to occupy his brain so that it has less capacity to worry about what's happening

    - flat out bribery.  chocolate buttons for little boys who sit still and have their hair cut.  little boys who struggle and jump off the chair have their buttons eaten by mummy.  usually the threat of losing even one button gives him pause.

    it does all feel really cruel though - have you considered just giving up and letting his hair grow long?

    in the past i've also resorted to cutting his hair whilst asleep, whilst he's in the bath (he loves the bath) and just not having it cut at all.  it's a balance I think, between helping him fit in with social expectations (especially on boys and hair length), practicality (managing long hair washing etc) and desensitising in the long term, vs the pain they go through struggling to have their hair cut.

    Anyone else got any tips?

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  • I'm still struggling with this with my 4 1/2 year old.  He HATES having his hair cut but can be persuaded to suffer for a short time.  I found the following things helpful:

    - find a nice hairdresser who is sympathetic, and willing to listen to you

    - prepare your child so they know what is coming, but don't talk too much about it so they get anxious.  just enough so it is not a suprise

    - we avoid having the cape over him as he hates it, and we don't let the hairdresser spray water on his head.  if she needs his hair damp she wets the comb and combs the water in

    - distraction during haircutting - iPad games or whatever the current favourite is. Singing, counting, spelling or anything to occupy his brain so that it has less capacity to worry about what's happening

    - flat out bribery.  chocolate buttons for little boys who sit still and have their hair cut.  little boys who struggle and jump off the chair have their buttons eaten by mummy.  usually the threat of losing even one button gives him pause.

    it does all feel really cruel though - have you considered just giving up and letting his hair grow long?

    in the past i've also resorted to cutting his hair whilst asleep, whilst he's in the bath (he loves the bath) and just not having it cut at all.  it's a balance I think, between helping him fit in with social expectations (especially on boys and hair length), practicality (managing long hair washing etc) and desensitising in the long term, vs the pain they go through struggling to have their hair cut.

    Anyone else got any tips?

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