Published on 12, July, 2020
I am a parent of a five year old who is under assement for ASD. He does have quite severe speech and language delay, he can speak in short sentences but not yet have conversations. Over the last week my husband and me have had difficulty getting him to have a bath. Once he is in the bath he is more than happy to sit and play infact he is often reluctant to come out. Leading up to the bath he will play and ignore us rather than get undressed. We eventually help him undress and he prolongs getting in the bath until we eventually get him in but its a huge battle. Yestterday he insisted on getting in half dressed and refused to get undressed. He does need some help with dressing and undressing, I thnk he is desperate to do it himself. The ignoring us I am not sure why as other times he is looking at us and responding to us really nicely and is very cooperative. Does anyone have any advice or experience of this?
My son is now 12, bath time has always been a nightmare. He really struggled to get in but once in wouldn't come out as having to much fun playing. It was quite common for him to get in the bath fully clothed. I just had to go with it. As long as I could wash his hair I didn't worry too much about his clothes getting wet. He refuses to have his hair cut or brushed so I feel if I can at least get it washed and combed I'm winning. In the house now he only wears his Pyjamas. Luckily he has now moved on to showers (less splashing) although he still has to keep his Pyjama bottoms on. The more I tried to get him to bathe in the same way his brother would the worst it got. He now washes in the way he wants to wash and at least he is clean.
Hi thank you, it’s just reassuring to know that this doesn’t need to be an issue. Myself and his Dad can still wash most of him.