Teach Grooming and Hygiene to Kids with Autism

HOW TO TEACH GROOMING AND HYGIENE FOR THE CHILD?

Grooming and hygiene are mostly not considered by most of us because we do everything for them as they are being children.

But after they grow up? Obviously, they should be able to do independently.

Therefore, along with other goals these skills has to considered and trained at an appropriate age.

Let’s discuss how can these skills be taught to the child.

SPLITTING:

Similar to other activity of daily living (ADL) skills, grooming and hygiene skills can be also split into more than one step in order to accomplish the task with ease.

• Plan which skill has to be addressed first according to the child’s age
• Collect or draw pictures of the task that has to be trained
• Number each picture or step
• Create a routine or an activity schedule (refer to table 1:1) where the child marks a tick or paste a sticker next to the completed task.

Table 1:1

Here is an example of how we can create an activity schedule,

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
See Mirror
Use the washroom
Flush the toilet
Wash hands
Brush teeth
Gargle mouth
Wash face
Wipe face, hands with a dry cloth
Apply moisturizer
Comb hair or tie hair
Get ready for the breakfast

The above is just a sample for one particular activity (here, morning duties). This chart can be elaborated by scheduling for the whole day and for specific tasks.

SOCIAL STORIES:

Another way to learn the skill is via watching social stories. There are many animated videos available online for children to learn more than one skill.

Watch social stories on the AutiSpark app

POINTS TO REMEMBER:

• Before we start to train any skill make sure the child is able to identify and/or label the items related to the performing skill.
• The child must be able to locate where the items are and then, train the child to replace them after every use.
• As the child achieves each step or completes all tasks for a day, present the child with any sort of reward.