panchomax
04-23-2009, 09:11 AM
Hi, my beautiful son was diagosed 4 mths ago at 3.5yrs with high-functioning autism. I feel its an absolute privilege to be the mother of such a unique, quirky, interesting loving little boy. In fact I find myself in awe of him. He knew his alphabet at 2.5 yrs & also has fantastic number recognisation thanks to his obsession of deal or no deal! He can also name any brand of car & mobile phone. His obsessions include the yellow pages directory, women, recipes & allphones magazines, computors, t.v commercials & the nintendo wii. However he has a real fear of hair cuts. We have had hairdressers in the past refuse to cut his hair because of the chaos. It was just to dangerous as he struggled, screamed & cried so much. If we were lucky enough to get through a haircut while I restrained him, by having him sit on my knee & holding his hands down, he would come out looking like a little monkey because the hair had stuck to his little tear-stained face. I even tried to cut his hair while he took his nap, but I was was only getting chunks here & there. My speech therapist suggested I make a social story. So I went & took photos of the hair salon & hairdresser I intended to use & made it into a short story. I read it to him 2 days before we were going to go. I also thought what was his most recent obsession which was the nintendo wii. I went to a shop & ask them for an empty display box, so I could take it to the hairdressers with me, unbeknown to my son. We approaceh the salon &he seemed to be getting a little anxious, but just before he was about to let out a scream. I produced the empty wii box. Well you wouldn't believe it, he didn't shed one tear while getting his hair cut. All the hairdressers that already knew my son could not believe it, as I also couldn't belive it. Honestly I think I was the proudest Mum in the world that day. Who knows what the next haircut might bring, but I'm hoping if I follow along those same guidelines it might be another success!!! ( My next big issue is to now tackle toilet training!)
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Liamsmom
04-23-2009, 02:00 PM
What a big triumph for you and your son.Does your son have sensory issues? My son was the same way when he was younger. When he finally got over the haircut thing I asked him what it was all about and he said the sound of the clippers so close to his already sensitive ears and the feeling of the hair on his face and neck. That stuff still bothers him but he handles it. You'll see he'll overcome lots of the things that may be issues now however other ones may pop up and you'll both find your way through those also.
panchomax
04-23-2009, 05:56 PM
Yes my son does have sensory issues. He will only eat certain foods, but thank goodness they are all heathy. He has eaten mashed veg with finely cut meat every night for the last 2yrs. lol. He absolutely refuses any junk food. Yah~! How old is your son now?
Liamsmom
04-23-2009, 07:05 PM
He's 7 now, and in an inclusive class in the first grade. He's not officially Aspergers diagnosed yet but it'll be any time now. He also has some OCD stuff going on but all in all things are so much easier now than when he was younger. Now I know what's what and I can make sure he gets everything he needs in school and that everyone knows what his issues are. He has a group of wonderful patient friends on our block that are all accepting of his little ways and include him in all that is going on at the time so it's all working ou quite nice.
panchomax
04-23-2009, 10:40 PM
What do you mean by he hasn't been diagnosed as Asperger's yet? Do you mean that he has overcome alot of issues so they are changing the diagnoses? Because that would be very positive. Also do you have any other children? I have twins who turn 2 yrs next month, they are not on the spectrum though. I now have 3 kids to toilet train as the twins are showing alot of interest, but my HFA still isn't!
Mira11
04-24-2009, 06:37 AM
hi panchomax - congratulations on turning a fear into something fun!!
i'm curious to know what the HFA diagnosis was based on? he sounds a lot more like Aspergers with all of his skills.
i'm curious to know what the HFA diagnosis was based on? he sounds a lot more like Aspergers with all of his skills.
panchomax
04-24-2009, 07:45 AM
The HFA diagnoses was based on the fact he has delayed speech development. He uses alot of ecolalia. I myself also believe he could have hyperlexia. He also has the hand flapping & sensory issues.
haydn
04-24-2009, 03:13 PM
Glad to here everything is working out with your son's haircuts. We have a little boy who is 3 years old. He was diagnosed with moderate mild to moderate autism. My wife has to cut his hair at home because he cried and wouldn't let a barber cut it. In order to distract him while cutting his hair, we put on the video Peter Rabbit. He loves this video set and so far it seems to work. It's about the only time we let him watch it because we keep the tv on as little as possible. Maybe an hour a day if at all. We are fortunate that he rarely asks to watch any tv at all. Anyway, the time will come when he'll have to be taken to a barber so I hope to figure out a way where he won't cry when taken.
KMVC
05-01-2009, 01:44 AM
My autistic twins used to scream bloody murder and wiggle and cry and it was impossible to cut their hair, electric clippers or scissors did not matter. After we did the Auditory Integration therapy, ( it helps to desensitize their overly sensitive hearing) we were finally able to cut it no problem, they would even try to do it themselves.