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Hygiene Issues with older difficult children?
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<blockquote data-quote="trinityroyal" data-source="post: 152210" data-attributes="member: 3907"><p>CrazyinVA, you're certainly not alone in this. </p><p></p><p>My difficult child has serious hygiene issues. Left to his own devices, he will not wash for weeks on end. He's an 18 year old man, so you can imagine what he smells like after a few days of not washing.</p><p></p><p>With him, it's due to sensory integration issues. difficult child likes the smell of his body odour, and the feeling of the shower spray on his skin really bothers him. So...we insisted that he take baths instead, so that the feeling of the water would be less irritating. BUT, he wasn't complying.</p><p></p><p>At this point, his Residential Treatment Center (RTC) staff have to supervise his bath every day. They make him put on a bathing suit and watch to make sure he washes all of his non-private areas. Then they leave. He is supposed to take off the bathing suit and do the rest at that point, but who knows whether he does or not. However, since he is required to sit in the bubble bath for 20 min after the supervised portion is over, at least he will get semi-clean in spite of himself.</p><p></p><p>I don't know if this is something that he could manage without direct supervision and enforcement. At 24, I don't know if you can make your difficult child wash, but perhaps natural consequences are the way to go.</p><p></p><p>For example, if your daughter smells horrible then perhaps she can't use your car because of the odour she would leave behind.</p><p></p><p>I used to soft-pedal the issue for years. At this point, I"m just blunt. For example,</p><p>"difficult child, don't hug me. You stink and I don't hug people who are dirty and smelly. When you are clean I will give you a hug."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="trinityroyal, post: 152210, member: 3907"] CrazyinVA, you're certainly not alone in this. My difficult child has serious hygiene issues. Left to his own devices, he will not wash for weeks on end. He's an 18 year old man, so you can imagine what he smells like after a few days of not washing. With him, it's due to sensory integration issues. difficult child likes the smell of his body odour, and the feeling of the shower spray on his skin really bothers him. So...we insisted that he take baths instead, so that the feeling of the water would be less irritating. BUT, he wasn't complying. At this point, his Residential Treatment Center (RTC) staff have to supervise his bath every day. They make him put on a bathing suit and watch to make sure he washes all of his non-private areas. Then they leave. He is supposed to take off the bathing suit and do the rest at that point, but who knows whether he does or not. However, since he is required to sit in the bubble bath for 20 min after the supervised portion is over, at least he will get semi-clean in spite of himself. I don't know if this is something that he could manage without direct supervision and enforcement. At 24, I don't know if you can make your difficult child wash, but perhaps natural consequences are the way to go. For example, if your daughter smells horrible then perhaps she can't use your car because of the odour she would leave behind. I used to soft-pedal the issue for years. At this point, I"m just blunt. For example, "difficult child, don't hug me. You stink and I don't hug people who are dirty and smelly. When you are clean I will give you a hug." [/QUOTE]
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