Refusal to wear warm clothing

[underachieverspleasetryharder]

My 5 year old DS with ASD is completely refusing to wear warm clothing. He wants to just wear a t-shirt even outside, and gets extremely upset if I try to get him to wear a jumper or coat. School are reporting the same issue, and he is even refusing to wear his coat in the rain. This started about a month ago when it was snowing, so has nothing to do with the more recent warm weather. I don't think he has any sensory issues with clothing, as he has always been happy to wear absolutely anything until a month ago. He keeps saying he's hot. I get the impression he wants to feel cold? Is this a thing?! Any advice?

Yes my ds is like this. I can get him to wear shoes, hat and coat to somewhere. But once we are there, indoors or outdoors, he takes it all off.

I've found with him you can put layers underneath but not on top of his clothes. Also he won't let me put on two separate items (ie vest then T-shirt). So I have stitches thermals into his trousers and tops.

With my ds I don't think it's sensory in terms of the feel of the clothes but something to do with his visual perception. I think he needs to know that his clothes look the same.

He also doesn't seem to notice hot/cold weather in the same way that I do. He'll be fine until he has nearly turned blue! We just monitor him closely when we're out and take him home as soon as he has reached his limit.

My dd is like this. Tbh we have had to be firm in winter. In rain or v cold weather she wears her coat or stays in. We had a few tearful playtime especially after a summer being used to summer t shirts but it has generally worked along with a social story. She still refuses to wear a jumper and a coat but I pick my battles!

Livpotter has some good ideas!
Im an adult with sensory issues which were more prominent when i was a child.
I prefer cold because it gives me sensory feedback, being generally warm has a weird feeling of numbness

I much prefer zipped hoodies (sleeves rolled) as the give me temperature control options, feels like cotton, and stop people badgering me about jumpers. I cant stand over the head style ones. I have a thing about textures but sometimes fleeces can be ideal for somepeople due to being light weight

Any kind of wool style feels horrible so school jumpers made me cringe. I used to wear long sleeve tops to stop it touching my skin if that helps

Socks are a big no for me as are hats, scarfs and gloves. Being warm or hot makes me feel weird. Anything that restricts movement such as most coats do i dont like. I dont zip my coats up but do now wear them

I function fine as an adult in my career (although people often ask me where my coat is!) But id say possibly limiting outdoor time so it doesnt matter that they are cold and having warm areas to go back to. I never became unwell for being cold at short periods such as breaks and lunch as i warmed up back in class

My mum had to learn to settle for the basics eg a coat on but not zipped, and no gloves etc because even now thinking about someone zipping me in a coat with a scarf, hat and gloves maked me a bit irate.

Other than specific textures mine is more about feeling too wrapped up and claustrophobic almost. Almost like if you had your head under a blanket and although you can breathe , you feel stuffy

He's still refusing to wear his coat both in and out of school, and it's been cold and very wet all week. AFAIK he still goes out to play with at school without his coat on.

DH took him to buy a new coat in case it was the coat which was offending him in some way, but he won't wear the new one either!

He gets so upset and stressed! It's literally never been a problem until a month ago, I don't understand the change of heart!

Clothing has never really been an issue for him before. He isn't hypersensitive, probably the opposite so Tookal what you say about preferring to feel the cold for sensory feedback is probably true for him. This is what I suspected. It just seems wrong to allow him to play out in the cold/rain without a coat when he's so little!

Have you tried a social story about how children always wear coats when playing outside? This helped my dd. I also ended up telling school that she had to stay in unless she wore her coat. We had a couple of tough days before she put it on!

My asd nearly 8 hates his coat. He wear his school jumper tied around his waist. He isn't allowed out to play at school without a coat so he has eventually compromised on a very light (not crinkly) windbreaker with fleece lining. And he's not usually sensory on any way but coats and jumpers are a sticking point

Mine (8) is fine with a coat these days, but he went through the winter battling against it when he was 3. Fortunately he was young enough to be shoved in a pushchair with rain covers and cosy toes at that point.

Our major issue is trousers. He hasn't covered his legs in over 12 months! He's been like it since before he turned 4. I used to fight it and getting dressed for school in yR was a hideous battle day in, day out until the school policy dropped the words summer/ winter and since then he has worn shorts every single day apart from a couple of hours for a religious visit. Even for that, despite regular warnings, buying a new pair to replace the outgrown, unworn pair, he still couldn't face it on the day and went in in shorts with the trousers in his bag.

He is also particular over jumpers, favouring fluffy full zips. School jumpers are no longer worn.

He is genuinely a warm-blooded child, and generally, I can't face battling it unless it really matters like the Mosque trip. He's managed not to have hypothermia yet despite being an outdoorsy child.

No real advice, just a bit of solidarity. Hopefully he will grow out of the phase.

If I were you I would just let him be upset but warm and dry in his coat. Not having what you want is very distressing for autistic people but we are capable of compromise even when we don't like it, even when it leaves us anxious and drained. Just be consistent. "It is cold and you have to wear this coat. It is ok that you are upset I understand but you still have to wear the coat."