July 8, 2013
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Autism: Processing and Clothing
We’ve tried for years to help Heidi sort out her own clothing, get herself dressed in the mornings, so many things we’ve tried.
If I lay her clothing out before she gets dressed then there are no problems.
If we are not in a hurry and she has time to pick out what she is going to wear then there are no problems.
But if one thing goes wrong or she can’t find exactly what she wants or we are in a hurry then there are tears, so many tears.
Heidi can sort out her own washing basket and put the clothes away in the right place.
Heidi can dress herself, yay the anxiety based regression has stopped and we recovered this vital skill.
We sat down and had a talk about why the drawers were not working for clothes storage. It boils down to a couple of things:
- Too many choices (too much clothing)
- Too confusing – what day is it, what is the weather like etc.
Once Heidi is confused / overwhelmed by choice she is unable to process anything at all and hence the tear storms.
So we are simplifying the clothes storage. We’ve labelled 7 tubs, one for each day of the week. On Saturdays when the girls fold and put away their washing we will fill up Heidi’s tubs. This is something Heidi and I will need to do together, talking through what is on her schedule and picking out appropriate clothes.
Heidi was able to explain that some items of clothing she really does not enjoy wearing, but likes to hold or feel the fabric, so I’ve put them aside in a special box for playing with.
She really dislikes the school shirts, preferring dresses. I’ve put a couple of shirts aside for sports days and left the dresses for regular wear. Glad she told me that as I would have put the dresses in storage with summer clothes.
Now to figure out how to store all the excess clothing, out of her room but available if she needs it.
