Autism…haircuts. Those are two words you don’t say together. Autistic children, particularly the moderate to severe ones, have a hard time sitting still for a long period. That makes traditional haircuts near impossible. Most families resort to the dreaded clippers. You know, this kind:
Thing is, loud buzzing noises usually make an autistic child crazy. So haircutting sessions often turn into this:
There was no greater joy when we came to the day that Raif realized that his hatred of the clippers was greater than his hatred of sitting still for a half an hour, and thus my life was eased. Now, I’m lucky. Most beautyshops will not take a SN kid like Raif, so I would still have to resort to the clippers, but since I have become adept with barber sheers, I was able to cut his hair at home. While it had its moments, particulary when I accidentally snipped his ear when he moved, it was so much better. For about 2 years, Raif was content with that. Until he saw a picture of himself with a buzz, and realized he liked that look.
It’s amazing to me that at age 11, Raif is now starting to care about how he looks. One day I came home to find him in a long sleeve pullover shirt, with a t-shirt over it. A very trendy look, indeed. One I never dressed him in. Apparently one he had come to like it while seeing characters dressed like that on television (Disney channel does dress its stars in the latest fashions). On this occasion, Raif decided he wanted a buzzcut. He was ready to subject himself to the clippers again.
Well, all in all, it wasn’t *too* bad. The first 10 minutes went well. The last 15 were terrible. But there was something to be said. As much as Raif fought, he would run away to cool down, and then he would willingly come back. He realized that as much as he hated that buzzing cutty thing, it was something he wanted and had to put up with.
The results:
This was actually the previous cut Raif got. He’s had another with the sheers since then. I have to admit, I kinda wish he’d go back to the scissors, but I know he is happy, and that is what counts. The life of the parent of an autistic child, where haircutting is a contact sport. Gotta love it.
May 10, 2008 at 1:58 am
Boy do I hear that!! Little Miss, now 8, wouldn’t even let us comb her hair when she was 2 and 3. We had to persuade her that we’d only do it for as long as it took to get through the alphabet song. (Sometimes Z was more like z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-zzz.)
And a salon? with the clippers and the hair dryers and the Muzak and the women chatting? HA.
But she’s gotten slowly over it thanks to sensory integration work. Now she won’t let me cut it any more–she has to go to the haircut store where they have a TV with kid videos and a little carousel horse to sit on (Famous Hair). So there is hope.
May 22, 2008 at 11:31 pm
That is soooo true!! I love the wrestling story. I used to have to cut my sons hair in the back yard strapped to a highchair and just hope that the cops did not get called. It was horrible!! He has gotten better, I just shave it as fast as I can and as short as I can. He still screams and freeks but he is old enough (10 years) to understand the beauty of a reward at at the end.
June 11, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Oh, this is so true!!!! Loved the wrestling picture. One of the first times we took Jakie (ASD) in for a haircut, the barber had no idea what the problem was, and told ME that it was “all these women hanging around, causing the problem.” Hmmmm…we never went back!
I’ve found a few hairdressers that will use scissors rather than clippers (that buzzing drives him nuts) and the outcomes have been much more positive.
September 30, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Your story made me laugh out loud. I had to cover my mouth at my terminal when I saw the wrestling picture. Earlier this year my older son (14 yr) and I had to hold down the second son (13 yr with mile Aspergers) so that he would get a hair cut. It’s nice to hear that we are not the only ones that have had to do that!