Appropriate Clothing

by Bubby
(Austintown, Ohio)

My Granddaughter will not wear the appropriate clothing for the time of the year. She will not wear underwear at all which is an issue because some day she will start her periods. She wears the same pair of shorts and T-shirt everyday. She wears her shorts under her butt. You would thing that would be uncomfortable. Thank goodness her t-shirt is long. She goes to a school for Autism so they are used to that kind of thing.




She will not wipe after going to the bathroom, so she smells like pee all the time.

Now for some reason she started peeing her pants on a regular basis. She understands very well that its not the right thing to do, but she does it anyway. She has been in OT and Sensory therapy since the age of 3 but it really hasn't helped with the clothing issues and the accidents in her pants. Should we make her wear different clothing even though she is a big girl and could have quite the meltdown and hurt someone. Any idea's would be appreciated.

We have tried to buy different soft clothing. But to no avail. Should we put up with the fight and make her wear them or should we hope and pray once she realizes that her behavior is inappropriate she will want to change her clothes on her own. Someone please help! Bubby



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Dec 31, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		Some ideas
by: Anonymous

I my DD is very sensitive around her waist.

That means underwear, especially underpants hurt.. We tried extra long ones that go almost up to her breasts that went over her waist and low ones that went under her waist.

Recently she started to wear leotards as underwear, this seems to do the trick. We are now working the way toward the one piece type of underwear that has a bra and snaps on the bottom as she gets older.

See if your child is super sensitive around the waist. Things like very, very, ticklish- then try to work around the area- higher than the waist- go way higher or lower than the waist, below the belly just covering. If she likes leotards,(it may spread the sensation over the area) then you can sew snaps on the bottoms for easy potty breaks. Besides the leotards are pretty- many colors.

Also, we allow our DD to not wear pants, or shorts, at home, - if she needs too . Often she will just wear a top with her leotards underneath, this acts like a de-stresser for her especially after hours wearing pants at school. A while back, she also lived in empire waisted dresses, with layers of cammies underneath with low, low, rider undies. Often she would de-stress by staying in her nightgown- no underwear.

For clothes- ask your OT about habitation- the wearing of the clothes, for longer and longer periods to get desensitized to them. Offer a great big reward for completing habitation on comfortable clothes (ones she says that feel OKay)
When getting dressing- allow your child to be distracted- like watching TV, and extra time to get dressed helps.

Watch your child to see if she is weather sensitive. My child is very sensitive to air pressure changes- dramatic swings from high to low pressure- these days are a real challenge- where everything hurts.

As for the peeing, ask your OT for suggestions. This seems a common problem with our kids. Thankfully, my DD did not have this problem.

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