What is personal hygiene for autistic teenagers?
Personal hygiene for autistic teenagers includes skills like:
- using deodorant
- putting on clean clothes
- caring for pimples
- shaving
- managing periods.
Personal hygiene in the teenage years builds on self-care skills your child started learning when they were younger, like:
- brushing teeth
- having a shower or bath
- washing and brushing hair
- washing their hands and blowing their nose.
Personal hygiene might look different for different autistic teens, depending on their age, abilities and goals:
- For some, it might mean using personal hygiene skills independently or with only a few prompts.
- For others, it might mean communicating their preferences, giving or refusing consent, and getting respectful support.
Why is it important for your autistic teen to learn about personal hygiene?
Keeping clean is an important part of staying healthy. For example, washing hands before eating and after using the toilet is a proven and effective way of fighting off germs and avoiding sickness.
But understanding and managing their own personal hygiene is also about choice, control, privacy, dignity, confidence and independence for your autistic teen.
How to help your autistic teen develop personal hygiene skills
Some autistic teenagers might learn new personal hygiene skills easily or with a few prompts.
Others might need:
- clear explanations
- sensory adjustments
- visual supports
- social stories
- video-modelling
- safe and respectful hands-on support.
You can use these tools and strategies to help your child learn life skills, including personal hygiene skills. You can also use them as reminders after your child has learned new skills. Your child’s health professionals can help you and your child decide on the tools that might suit your child best.
Give clear explanations of personal hygiene changes
It can help to explain puberty-related hygiene changes in clear, direct language. For example:
- ‘During puberty your body makes new hormones that can make your skin oily. This can cause pimples. Washing your face every day can remove the oil and help your face feel clean and comfortable.’
- ‘During puberty your scalp produces more oil, so you might need to wash your hair more often.’
- ‘During puberty you sweat more. This can make your socks damp. Damp socks create the perfect environment for bacteria and fungus to grow. Changing your socks after sport helps to keep your feet clean, dry and healthy.’
Make sensory adjustments
Your autistic teen might need new products that suit their sensory preferences and needs, including:
- fragrance-free deodorant
- particular types of period products
- dry shampoo
- low-foaming body wash
- gel cleanser or non-foaming cleanser
- fast-drying moisturiser
- moisture-wicking underwear or socks.
Use visual schedules for personal hygiene routines
You can use visual supports and schedules to break your child’s personal hygiene routine into steps. This can help your child learn hygiene skills and put these skills into practice.
How to make a visual schedule
- Think about your child’s needs. Perhaps it might work to start with just one part of the routine, like showering. Over time you can include more of your child’s routine or make schedules for other parts of the routine.
- Think about your child’s preferences. Do they prefer words, pictures or both?
- Think about your child’s comfort. Your child might feel more comfortable with a visual schedule that includes photos of their own items and home.
A visual schedule for showering
Here’s an example of a schedule for showering. You can put the schedule in the bathroom, where your child will see it every morning.
- Wash my face, arms, stomach, feet and legs with soap and a face washer.
- Wash under my armpits with soap.
- Wash around my vulva/penis with soap.
- After the shower, dry my body with a towel.
- Dry my face, arms, stomach, feet and legs with a towel.
- Dry my armpits with a towel.
- Dry around my vulva/penis with a towel.
- Put deodorant under my armpits.
- Get dressed in clean clothes.
Use social stories about personal hygiene
Social stories can help autistic kids and teens cope with challenging or confusing situations like changes in their body or changes to their personal hygiene routines.
A social story about sweating, washing and deodorant
Here’s an example of a social story that can help your child understand some of the reasons for personal hygiene, as well as hygiene skills.
- I might notice that I am sweating more.
- Sweating is when my body releases small amounts of fluid to help me cool down.
- Sweating can make my body feel damp or uncomfortable.
- Using deodorant can reduce how much I sweat and help my body feel comfortable. After my shower, I can use a deodorant that feels OK for my body.
- I should use the deodorant under my arms. This might feel strange. This is OK.
Try video-modelling of personal hygiene skills
Video-modelling can help your child learn self-care and personal hygiene skills.
For example, you could video yourself putting on deodorant and watch the video with your child. If you record the video on your child’s phone or tablet, your child could watch the video while putting on deodorant.
You might need to go over these messages and practise these strategies many times with your child. Try to be patient with your child – and yourself. You might find it helps to share experiences and get support from other parents in similar situations.
Give your teen safe and respectful hands-on support
Some autistic teenagers with higher support needs, including non-speaking teens, might need hands-on help with personal hygiene. It’s important that this support still helps your autistic teen feel safe, respected and in control of their own body.
Tips and ideas
- Before you do a hygiene task with your child, explain what you’re going to do in ways your child understands.
- Give your child choices about how tasks are done.
- Encourage your child to do parts of tasks if they can.
- Watch for signs that your child is comfortable, is uncomfortable or needs a break.
If your teen wants more privacy or makes decisions about their hygiene that you don’t agree with, you could try asking whether they want help, offering choices and accepting ‘no’.