Self Care

[Marioandluigi]

DS2 is 2.8 and has ASD. He seems to be making massive improvements in his vocabulary and his use of it withing the last couple of months, and the More than Words programme has helped, but his self-care is just stuck.

He makes no attempt to dress himself, brush his hair or teeth or do anything like that. He has lots of motor planning problems and is extremely clumsy, but I just dont know what to do.

His understanding isnt great, and he only understands about 30 words, and none that are very helpful when trying to get him to start to try these tasks.

Im so stressed about it that my post has come out all garbled. Im sorry it doesnt make much sense.

Does anyone have any ideas? His portage worker suggested starting with his socks but this isnt working and she seems to have disappeared - we havent seen her for three weeks and I dont know where else to turn.

[MavisEnderby]

hi.Maybe he is just not ready yet?A lot of NT children are unable to dress themselves at this age.IIRC ds was 3+ before he attempted this.

dd has quite severe delays and still unable to atm,the OT suggested "REVERSE CHAINING" METHOD,ie with socks,start with sock placed over heel and a bit up ankle and encourage child to pull up sock,gradually increase the difficulty level as child becomes competent with each stage,if that makes sense.

If it makes you feel any better dd is still unable to dress self but will aim to put trousers on head,or top on toes.I was chuffed the other day as she managed to independently put her leg in some bottoms appropriately,al;beit that they were ds pj bottoms and hence about 3 sizes too large.!

Good luck

[MavisEnderby]

Oh,re stuff like teeth brushing and hairbrushing,which dd does attempt albeit clumsily,our portage worker suggested making it into a game with dollies,ie showing child yourself brushing dollies teeth,hair,taking dollly in bath and attempting to wash dollly etc.DD has picked this up but obv each child is different so unsure if this will help with ds?

Good luck.

[lou031205]

I'd agree with Mavis. Also, do you have any idea what the root issue is? For example, do you think that he has sensory issues, or can't hold the information?

DD can't keep still long enough to get dressed, but she has just been assessed as having lots of sensory processing issues, and they affect her ability to focus on the task.

If you think he can't remember, could you use some PECS symbols to show the step-by-step process.

Would he tolerate hand-over-hand? Perhaps with reward for joining in.

Most of all, though, he is very young.

[MumOfThreeMonkeys]

if it makes you feel any better my dd aged 5.6 still has no self care skills despite 18 months OT, her fine and gross motor skills are extremely delayed. She is still unable to remove her socks even thou me and dh have spent at least 20 mins every night doing it with her for the last 3 years. she has ASD and is also extremely clumbsy and has very little understanding of what we are trying to explain to her, for me her messy eating is more of a problem than the dressing skills, she eats like a 12 month old and it takes longer to clean up after dinner than it does to make it , this prob hasnt made you feel any better but just to let you know that you are not alone.

[Marioandluigi]

Yes - the eating is terrible hear too. No spoon or fork, if he eats he eats with his hands and it goes everywhere.

Thanks for your advice, I know he is still quite young but I suppose I am feeling quite sensetive to it all as I have had a couple of snide comments this week from other people, also, I think the sooner we start the sooner he might 'get' it.

I dont think the problem is sensory, I honestly just dont think he wants to bother, and whatever I am saying is just another language to him anyway and then he gets frustrated as its taking so long to get dressed or whatever.

We will keep trying

[HelensMelons]

Marioandluigi don't panic too much, he is still very young - my ds2 (hfa/adhd) is almost 9 years old and he still requires encouragement!

Perhaps, he can't remember the order that things are put on. Cards with a visual picture can help (in the order he gets dressed). Or a simple technique call "first" and "then" eg First we do our teeth and then we will brush your hair. My dc's all brushed there teeth in the kitchen until this year when they will now be bothered to go upstairs.

Dont panic about the messy eating either (easy to say, I know!)- we are just about to start occupational therapy and one of the things will be to help improve the eating. DS2 is messy as well!

Good luck x