RE: hair pulling

July 6, 2004

Hi. I teach special ed- kiddos with lots of different disabilities. I've

never had a CHARGER that pulled their hair but lotsof kiddos with autism

will. It seems like kids with autism are doing it for the sensation- the

" sharpness " of the input feels good to them. For those kids we try to offer

tons of other activities with lots of input- popular things are

jumping/trampolines (with younger kids you can lay them down and bounce

them) swings, vibrating toys (especially something they can put in their

mouth) playing with beans/rice/shaving cream/water in a container, lotion,

those " executive toys " that look like they have millions of straight pens in

them, deep pressure/joint compression, brushing wiht a variety of brushes,

" painting " them with water on a paintbrush, tickles, bounicng/swinging on a

blanket (only works for young/light kids!), carressing with a feather duster

and sometimes even spicy food like hot chips or sour candy- poprocks are a

favorite too. With some kids it works to do a " sensory diet " - in other

words, have them do a high input activity every 15 min or every 30 min-

whatever works for the kids. Other times we just start offering choices-

" it's not ok to pull your hair- would you like to play airplane or have

lotion instead "

Hope this helps- and don't forget the pain connection like others have said!

Is it possibly a dry scalp? Or itchy from hair growing back- you might even

need to teach her " oh, your head must itch. This is how you scratch it " and

do hand overhand until she gets the hang of it. With kids that just wouldn't

stop pulling I have used a swim cap- the real tight kind. It provides some

input and just protects the hair for awhile to give it a little chance to

grow!

KAtrina

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