Personal Hygiene

🧼 Hygiene Hardships 🧼

Many autistics struggle with basic hygiene tasks — nail cutting, hair washing, bath time, teeth brushing— mainly due to their sensory differences. It could be something as simple as the smell of shampoo or the taste of toothpaste, but it could also be that physical touch is actually painful for them. Some children may feel overstimulated by the sounds, smells, and feelings associated with hygiene tasks.

All of these things can make managing care tasks difficult as a parent. Whatever the struggle, there are ways to ensure your child is maintaining proper hygiene care while also supporting their unique sensory needs. There are many tips & tricks to try for hygiene tasks, but a few that go across the board include: visual schedules, watching videos of care tasks, reading “social story” books, age appropriate explanations, visual timers, modeling the task on yourself etc. Most care tasks will take some trial and error to find what specifically works for your child’s unique needs. Please give yourself & your child grace while working through these challenges together. We’ve complied a list of tasks and tips that coincide with them to help you find alternatives or methods you haven’t tried yet. 🪥

Teeth Brushing 🪥

Whether it be not wanting to sit still, hating the taste of the toothpaste, or not enjoying the feeling of a toothbrush in their mouth, many autistics struggle with the task of brushing their teeth. Here are some tips & tricks to make brushing an easier experience for both you & your kiddo:

- Flavored toothpaste: strawberry, bubble gum, mint, vanilla, etc. There are many different flavors on the market. If you feel taste is a factor for your kiddo, you may want to experiment with the flavor of toothpaste you’re using.

- Toothbrush: Your struggle may be as simple as letting your child pick which toothbrush they want to use, or they could not like a specific style of toothbrush. There are many styles on the market, the traditional toothbrush, U-shaped toothbrush, finger brush, and the 3-sided toothbrush. You can also find toothbrushes with a favorite character, ones that sing, or ones that light up— sometimes all 3 in one! You may also want to try a vibrating toothbrush. Making small changes like these can really change the experience for your child.

- Environment change: You may want to try toothbrushing in a neutral location, or maybe you want to make the environment more inviting with low lighting, or glow lights, or fun music.

- Zollipops: If toothbrushing continues to be a struggle even after exhausting every option to make the experience more enjoyable, you may want to try out Zollipops, they are a “clean teeth” lollipop that have ingredients to help combat acidity in the mouth after eating.

- Safety Holds: As an absolute last resort, you can utilize holds that are safe & comforting to your child to help them get necessary care tasks maintained— laying your child’s head in your lap, with their legs away from you (you can use your legs to lay over their arms in this position if absolutely necessary) may make them feel safe & secure during unwanted, but necessary tasks to maintain their personal hygiene.

💅🏼 Nail Cutting 💅🏼

Nail Trimming is not exempt from the list of care tasks that can be uncomfortable for autistic children. Like many other hygiene tasks there are a list of reasons why this is— the sound of the clippers, sitting still for a prolonged period, the feeling of their fingers after they’re clipped, not liking physical touch are a few of those reasons. Many children, neurotypical and neurodivergent alike don’t understand why nail trimming is a necessary task.

- Starting slow: Take a slow approach, don’t force nail trimming as this could cause harm with nail cutters being sharp. Introducing the tool and allowing your child to explore it may be helpful in them being open to the task at hand.

- Choose the clippers: You may want to try a few different versions of nail clippers and / or files, have a few options on hand, and let your child choose which one they like best. This may eliminate some of the uncomfortable feelings that have surrounding nail trims.

- Redirection/Distraction: Sometimes all it takes is putting focus somewhere else to get the job done. Offering sensory tools, an iPad, or preferred activity during nail trimming may allow the child to regulate themselves during an unwanted but necessary task.

- Modeling: Modeling the task or allowing your child to try to trim your nails first may show solidarity & allow them to try something new.

- Take your time: Maybe they’ll let you trim one nail at a time, that’s okay. Do one nail or a few, as they’ll allow over the span of a few days. This method may be time-consuming at first, but over time, as they get comfortable with it and it becomes routine, they may allow more nails to be trimmed at a time.

- Nail filing: Whether it’s an electric version with different attachments to choose from or a classic manual file, filing may be a more preferred method to keep nails trimmed & smooth than conventional clipping. Like clipping, the above-mentioned methods may be helpful if you still have trouble with filing.

- As a last resort, if none of the methods you’ve tried are working, you may try clipping nails while your child sleeps. This has risks and benefits like anything else, but sometimes your child’s well-being will depend on trimmed nails, specifically if they display self injurious behaviors like scratching during a meltdown. We have to prioritize our children’s well-being💜

💈💇🏼‍♀️ Hair care 💇🏼‍♀️💈

Keeping up with hair health, such as hair brushing and hair washing, can also be extremely uncomfortable for autistic children. Similar to the above-mentioned hygiene tasks, these tasks can have sensory issues like smell & feel that autistic children will protest against.

- Hair brushing: There are so many options when it comes to hair brushing. You can use different types of brushes & combs to find what best fits your child’s needs. You can incorporate brushes with characters or let them choose their favorite color, too. Using high-quality conditioners and spray in conditioners can make hair brushing a little smoother.

- Hair washing: Washing can be difficult for many reasons, but there are things you can try to make it more enjoyable for your child. Some helpful products— salon chair, salon cape, portable shower head, goggles, hats/visors. You may also try washing in the sink; whether the child is in the sink, in a chair leaning into the sink, standing up over the sink, or laying on the counter with head dipped into the sink. You can also try a swaddle or comfort holding your child in the tub during washing. You may want to change the environment, add music or soothing lights.

🛁 Bath Time 🛁

Bath time (aside from hair washing) may be the hygiene task with the most simple solutions, obviously this won’t be the case for every family, but bath time could be as simple as adding toys. On the opposite end, it could be as complex as changing the temperature of the room you’re in. Like all of the other care tasks, bath time will take a little bit of deduction skills to find what best suits your child.

- Bath spinners: Many of our kiddos are fascinated with spinning. Adding a bath toy where you add water to make parts spin may be the solution to all of your bath time difficulties.

- Bath toys: Whether it be a spinner, a favorite character, a rubber duck, adding toys, and taking play breaks during bath time could really be helpful!

- Glow sticks: Turn the lights off and have a glow party in the bathtub with glow sticks!

- Markers/paints/color changing tablets: maybe your solution is adding color! Whether it be markers or paints for the walls or letting your child choose what color water they want to bathe in, adding color to the mix can really change the attitude surrounding bath time.

- Bubbles: Adding bubbles may add interest and a bit of sensory play into bath time.

- Logistics: Maybe your child doesn’t feel secure in the big bath tub, Amazon has tons of affordable inflatable options that can make a world of difference. Have you tried tub vs. shower? Sometimes that’s all it takes! If you have tried that unsuccessfully, have you thought of a handheld shower head that allows more control & comfort? Maybe the sound of running water is a painful sensory experience, so put an inflatable tub inside the big tub, fill one with clean water, and use the other to rinse.

- Temperature: Too hot? Too cold? Maybe it’s the water, maybe it’s the room itself, but changing the temperature may be all you need to do to make bath time successful.

🚽Using the restroom🚽

This is also can be such a daunting task so many variables in how each restroom is like

Lighting

Temperature

Sounds

People

Sensory process disorder can go as far as them not able to feel their bladder or having issues with pooping F

As a friendly reminder, not all of these suggestions will work for your family. You can try all, some, or none. These are just a compilation of suggestions we’ve seen from ourselves, all of you, professionals, etc. over the years. Hopefully, it all being in one place will be helpful. As always; feel free to drop comments with your own hygiene success stories! 💜🥰