Haircuts?? | Autism PDD

catmille, I will have to do this search as well.

We do go to a special "kids" haircut place that show noggin videos, airplane and car seats for the cut, balloons and toys and still...I NEVER see him meltdown like he does for the haircut.

We found this great lady, Dawn, who works there and is great with dealing with the prolonged full-blown outburst. She does the whole haircut with clippers and she is a pro. My DW and I have to hold him as much as possible and keep redirecting him through the tears to the noggin video and just give him as much praise as possible until it is over (and it only lasts about five minutes once we get him in the chair the way she does it). He is OUT OF THERE as soon as it is over. I am surprised he will walk in as he knows what is coming.

Oh, we have so been there!

Bug hates having his hair cut!

On the suggestion of catmille, I too bought the playdoh haircut toy. Bug plays with that when we pull out the playdoh stuff.

Then, he started asking for a special toy - and he asked and asked for it. Finally, I told him he could have it if he got a haircut.

At first he was like, "no thanks"

But after a few weeks, he said, "Okay!". So, DH took him. He cried and screamed, but he sat in the chair. The stylist was very fast (DH told her he had a haircut phobia). He got through it!

I used to just trim his hair at night when he was asleep - but I'm no hair stylist, and it looked bad for about two years, LOL...

Now we just need to find out his next "desperately wanted" toy!

Don't waste your $$ on the Flowbee, we have the same problem and tried that, and sent it back. Thankfully it had a money back guarantee. But had to waste $$ on postage. Anyway, don't go there. Does not work the way they advertised! LOLLIPOPS. Works like a charm for my son. Also, I used to do it myself, but I've found that spending the money to let someone else do it is money well spent! He is actually better for a stranger than me provided that stranger is quick with the scissors! my 3 yr old also FREAKS at haircut time. . .the last time we did it- we just did it without the buzzer. . .we just used scissors. . .he did a little better. i sat him on the porch and my friend did it. but if we use the clippers- FORGET IT. . .he screams like your killing him! We found a nice lady with 4 kids of her own who was gratious enough to work with my wife and he would sit on my wife's lap while he screamed bloody murder. Before he presented his autistic traits and was still in his high chair, my hair stylist sister-in-law was able to cut it for us. We went to Debbie,[Nice lady with 4 kids], at her salon because we thought that him being PO'd at Aunt Lynn wasn't a good thing. After about his fourth haircut from Debbie, we started to tell him that he had a nice haircut. He started to walk around saying, "I got a nice haircut". Now it is no big deal to get a haircut cause he knows that we are going to Bruster's for a nice ice cream cone after we are finished.

Bribery does have a place in our house.

23red -- Do you have the link to that social story? I would like to add it to my list of social stories (see topic "Sample social stories").

I'd also like to add that you shouldn't say getting your hair "cut". Getting cut hurts, right? Call it getting your hair trimmed, or styled, etc.

Off topic ... Katrina 2 ... LOVE YOUR PIC!!

Thanks for all the suggestions. Some I've already done and some are new and I will be trying. I got a used Flowbee. :) And just tried it on myself. I trimmed my bangs. LOL!! The thing actually works!! I think Kai will sit for it because I will be able to do it quick! That along with a treat and her favorite dvd should do the trick. Wish me luck!!!!

It was horrible for Dooder at first. The kids' haircut place was a godsend for us. The stylist just keeps cutting and doesn't get flustered with the screaming. There were times where I had to hold his head so she could cut.

But, it does get better! He is fine with haircuts now. Lots of rewards and praise for being brave, and more than once, a hairy sucker during the cut!

Turns out, it REALLLLLLLLLLY helped -- she only objected one time to the shampooing I did after that, and mildly!

That is definitely going to become a HABIT. Very exciting to find something works!

Other ideas that worked extremely well for us are

let your kid go watch you, hubby, siblings get their hair cut whenever ya'll go (hopefully not all at once) - no cut for him on these occasions. Let him see you cracking jokes and enjoying yourself.
buy a cheap electric toothbrush with Shrek or someone on it (less than 10 bucks). The buzzing sound and vibrations are similar to the clippers. When you brush his teeth, comment on how good the massage feels. During the haircut, talk about the toothbrush and massage idea. Bring it if you want.
buy a spritz water bottle for home use and use it on the kids before school, going to dinner, whatever. Let him spritz your hair and brush it.
if your child knows the concepts of FIRST NEXT FINALLY, start saying FIRST we go to the grocery NEXT we go home for supper FINALLY we watch a movie. My son does well when we tell him several times FIRST we get our haircut NEXT we go to the pizza shop and FINALLY we get an ice cream cone
let him watch The Incredibles where there is actually a conversation about the value/detriment of capes. Draw attention to the conversation during the movie. When your kids in the chair start talking about Syndrome, Elastigirl, etc. Distract him by using the cape as a conversation starter.
when they pull out the clippers, say "OKAY, NOW THIS MAY TICKLE A LITTLE BIT, BUT NO LAUGHING! Whoa! Was that a smile?? No smiling mister - there's no happy thoughts HERE!" Make it into a joke.
when all else fails, haul in your portable DVD player & stick in a 20 minute Scholastic book on DVD. Do NOT put in a feature length movie!!!! When you gotta turn the thing off after the haircut, you are negatively reinforcing the situation. Use a 20 minute show only.
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER say "now honey, this won't hurt a bit!" As far as introducing anxiety, this is the equivalent of you saying to your husband in the midst of, um, stuff, "now honey, don't lose your erection!" The idea would never have dawned on him until you introduced it. Shut. Up.
finally, they DO grow out of the anxiety! Cole had a crummy year or so with haircuts, and now its a walk in the park at age 6

We have a GREAT barber ... dd screeches and howls when I shampoo her (which I have increased to DAILY in an effort to desensitize her ... and YES I am careful!), but she NEVER complains at the barber shop! Amazingly.

[QUOTE=mom of twins]LOLLIPOPS. Works like a charm for my son. Also, I used to do it myself, but I've found that spending the money to let someone else do it is money well spent! He is actually better for a stranger than me provided that stranger is quick with the scissors! [/QUOTE]

This is exactly how we get our little guy to calm down for the first couple minutes. :( But when its time for the ol' razor to come out thats when he starts his "It's Okay" "It's Okay" over and over.

mishy39211.743587963I agree, popscicles & a favorite video work wonders for my guy - and also to go in when he is getting really sleepy. Maybe take him to the park before hand for several hours & just run him ragged first LOL I agree with everyone else distraction is key. We have a kids cut that is fantastic because they pick a movie they want to watch and then all the chairs are airplanes or cars or thinks that have steering wheels and pedals to keep them occupied. The other thing my sister has done with my boys is that they are big into cars so she tells them that the clippers are cars and lets them drive the pieces around and through mommy's hair while it is turned off then she runs it through their hair. We take my son to a special kids place too. He sits in a firetruck, watches a DVD and there is a special playroom there too while you wait. I also load up on special treats; lollipops, pink donuts and pirate booty. He would be good with it for a few minutes and then lose it. Then one day he held on and was pretty composed for the whole thing. I think sticking w/just clippers and eliminating the razor step helped a lot. Then just last week, we passed the place and he started throwing a fit because he wants to go get a haircut!!!

My son has trouble with the feeling of scissors near his ears -- probably both a tactile and an auditory reaction -- so we don't trim to close there.

The scissors are cold, so it helps that my son's hairdresser avoids letting the scissors touch his skin.

The cape bothers him around his neck, perhaps because it's made of a slick man-made fabric (nylon?). I'm trying to come up with a softer alternative.

Smells from perms and dyes bother him, too, so we always got his hair cut at home until he could handle the other sensory challenges better.

The cut hairs cause a sensation of light touch, which bothers him.

Wetting his hair with a sprayer bothers him, too.

The noise/vibration of an electric clipper can be a problem, and I've heard of using an electric toothbrush to de-sensitize.

If you want to identify your child's sensory challenges in general, you can do this online checklist:

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html

Good luck with everything.