Re: shower time - Not too Long

[Guest guest]

> Does anyone have any advice on how to make sure their child is

> actually washing when in the shower? My 13y/o aspie is terrible at

> personal hygiene. We found out he would just turn the water on and

> pretend to get washed, won't brush his teeth if he doesn't feel

like

Wow! and I thought we were the only ones with this problem. Our

foster/now adopted HFA 10yo son came to us with the issue. He can't

stand even a few drips of water on him, so things like showering were

big time trauma. Everytime we think we have a solution, like

smelling

him for soap, he finds a way around it. This last time, we would

also

make sure his hair was wet down to the roots! Then we caught him

kneeling next to the tub and getting his hair wet; using just a drop

or two of shampoo to give it the smell. This little guy's smart.

Our solutions have slowly evolved to match his wits. The first thing

was an opaque shower curtain - to give him privacy at least from the

waist down. Then we got one of those shower heads attached to a hose

so we could wet him down even if he escaped to the other side of the

tub. Of course we had no choice but to be with him, at least at

first.

Our latest " trick " is to give him the privacy he wants, but to have

him call us in when he is totally wet down and covered with soap. A

quick check of his head - making sure he's got enough soap to at

least

give the rest of his body a soapy rinse, and we're out of the

bathroom

while he rinses off. After the shower he dresses and we make sure

the

soap is out and off. So far it's working, but after puberty hits we

don't think one or two showers a week will do the trick.

For the teeth thing we appealed to his autistic nature. Now each

evening he does battle with the nasty teeth eating germs - we hope it

won't turn him into a germaphobe, but last two check-ups - zero

cavities! Good thing too, he's only just gotten to the point where

they don't need to put him completely out, just for a cleaning.

[Guest guest]

,

Are you sure our son and yours aren't twins? lol.

Mike's went so far as to put soap on the washcloth so

we think he's washed. He'll open and shut the shower

door so we think he's in there, he now has to keep the

bathroom door open when he brushes his teeth. We told

him he never knows when one of us will walk by to make

sure he's doing them. He told his therapist he didn't

feel he had to wash his feet because the water ran

down his body and would clean his feet. lol. When

asked " If you went through all the trouble to pretend

to get a shower, why not just get one? " His answer?

Because I didn't want to.

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