...haircuts and people with autism or sensory integration disorder?

Making haircuts a more frequent part of his routine is a really good strategy and cutting it at home is easier than going to a salon. I cut my daughters hair once a week (when I started teaching her this skill it was every couple of days), I don't usually cut off much and sometimes I don't cut off any but following the routine and keeping it positive is what's important. Some parents find social stories helpful, our daughter is at the more "low functioning" end of the spectrum so we find a sequence board with one visual per step works well.

We begin the routine with a bath because it's soothing and positive for her (if your son hates baths you may want to choose an alternate way to get his hair wet...or cut it dry) then after she gets dressed I give her a small bowl of cheese popcorn, get her to sit up on a chair and turn on her favourite movie. Before I start the haircut I show her the scissors and give her one last verbal reminder; "cutting hair now". In the beginning I only took one or two snips and immediately said "good job, all done!", working up to longer sessions as her tolerance increased (she can do 20 + minutes now). The secret is to always end hair cuts on a happy note and always follow it up with a reward. My daughter loves to ring the door bell so she gets one ring per haircut and occasionally she will even request a haircut for a chance to ring it!

It's definitely a lot more work to do weekly haircuts but I'm sure being the parent of a child with autism you are no stranger to hard work! Good luck.

My daughter has sensory issues and has an incredibly sensitive head. The first time we went to a hairdresser (before we knew about SPD) she screamed so loud that the shopping centre security guard came in to see what was going on. I think the hairdresser is still in therapy.

What worked for us:

Regular head massages to help desensitize the area. We did this 3-4 times a day for 6 months, especially before things like haircuts and hair washing.

Letting her play hairdresser with her soft toys (she's not into to dolls)

Weekly pretend haircuts

Lots of distraction - a lollipop and favourite dvd

Talking to her as I cut her hair to let her know what was going on "I'm cutting around your ears now", "Now I'm going to cut the back" etc

In the beginning I cut her hair but I have now found someone who does it from home. This is great because it eliminates all the additional sensory input from a salon/mall and my daughter likes seeing the same person each time.

I agree with Zanshin that short sessions and trying to end on a positive note is a good idea.

My daughter is pretty good now (lollipops proved to be a strong motivation); she doesn't like it but she does tolerate it without tears.

We had the same problem with my nephew we solved it by doing mock hair cuts weekly in order to familiarize him with the feel and sound of the clippers....

Put a really long guard on the clippers so it won't cut the hair and run it threw his hair so the sound, vibration and feel of the clipper guard moving through the hair are there...

As you know your son has calming triggers (A song, a phrase, a certain stuffed animal, etc.) My nephews calming trigger is Garth Brooks Friends In Low Places so we play it on a loop during his hair cuts (real and mock) to help maintain the calmness... We also do the hair cuts in the same chair in the same spot at the same time of day... People with autism are calmed by regiment so regiment as much as you can in order to keep the calmness stabalized...

If you have a pet let your son help groom the pet some of my nephews fears came from not knowing what the clippers were dong to the back of his hair, grooming the dog let him see what the clippers were up to..... (obviously 2 different sets of identical clippers were used..)

My nephew is now 12 and we rarely have a freak-out when it's hair cut time as long as we keep the regiment in place...

I've worked with children with autism and other similar disorders. I remember with one little boy, who was three, the parents cut his hair themselves (which is what you seem to be interested in, yes?), but they did it while he slept, because he was a good sleeper and was pretty much dead to the world when he was sleeping. Maybe that's a possibility for your son, until he gets more comfortable with it?

The biggest problem with haircuts is that the scissors get so close to the face and ears...you can let him hear scissors and see them, but it won't be the same as the closer view of those scary pointed cutting blades right by his face, or the sound of metal snipping against metal and cutting off part of him! I mean, that's scary for many children.

You might look around and see if there are any hairdressers in your area that specialize in children and adults with special needs. There are some out there...they are trained to make a haircut less of a problem for people with various disabilities, and since autism is one of the most common disabilities in children these days, that is one of the disabilities these specialized hairdressers know about. S/he might also be able to give you tips on how to make it easier for him in the future based on her education. Also, speak to your child's therapist and see if a plan can be started that will in time get him used to it.

It may take awhile, though, so haircuts while he's sleeping may be the best solution in the meantime, if possible.

Good luck!

I've got two sons with ASD's and 3 with sensory integration disorder.

We do home haircuts with clippers. We give them a lollipop. We do it in the bathroom and frequently have to rinse the lollipop of hair. We try to do them as infrequently as possible. Cut to a 1 and then let it grow till we can't stand it which is 4-6 months and then cut again.

They don't like it. My oldest took 3 people we had to hold him down. Now he is 8 and although he doesn't like is tolerant. The 3 yr old loses patience after about 2-5 minutes.

I don't understand how anybody with autism can allow their hair to be cut while asleep, my kids are so sensitive if you even run your hands through their hair while they are asleep they wake up.

True Ian, my kids and myself are both hyper and hypo sensitive. I just haven't seen kids on the spectrum be undersensitive to their hair, I am sure its possible, just less common

Ours experience was that our child could handle the noise, just not the clippings getting in the face, neck, etc. We got a Flowbee online - yes the one from the cheesy informercials - and have used it sucessfully for 8 years. A great product for sesory issues if you can get around the noise. Our child actually enjoys the cooling effect created by the suction.

For me, short. an individual see, hair like jared leto's seem too effortless and sometimes even oily. Shortcuts are more fun to play with and some sttles look much better on them.

Maybe just allow him to have long hair? Plenty of guys have long hair.

As to beetlemilk... some autistic people are way undersensitive, others are oversensitive, and probably most are sometimes oversensitive and sometimes undersensitive. If you've got an undersensitive one, you could probably cut it while asleep.

I have pretty very long hair, I like them but We think I would have them reduce short in about some two yrs