#AskingAutistics #AuDHD #ADHD #ActuallyAutistic
Subject: Personal hygiene & cleanliness
Tell me...
- One thing that helped you (or would've helped)
- One thing that didn't help you at all
...in experiencing/learning about personal hygiene, as a child?
And thanks for reboosts ☺️
@KatyElphinstone
One thing that would've helped is an understanding that cleanliness doesn't have to be an absolute. Since I tended to take things literally, it seemed like the aim was to remove 100% of germs, and it always bothered me that we were doing such a sloppy job of it - it didn't make sense.
Understanding it as a complement to the immune system and body's own cleaning mechanisms, as something done to avoid overwhelming this systems, helped a lot to make sense of it as part of the whole process.
In general, making sense of it logically, instead of it being just a list of instructions, helps a lot.
@digital_carver
But yes, just reading your post again. I'm realising here you mention more about general concepts. Immune system and understanding how the body works. Knowing about this makes a lot of sense (especially for autistic children who really like logic, in my experience)
I like this and it is thought provoking.
Another aspect is developing interospection, which is being aware of what's happening inside your body. Because my feeling is your body tells you what it needs and doesn't..
@digital_carver
So (just to wrap up thoughts, and sorry for the long post) the combination of knowing about things theoretically and being aware of how your body feels. This could be a really nice overview that gets a kid on the right track (and minus any shame or obligation... Which both have very counter effects).
Thanks for your input, that was really helpful 😊
@digital_carver
Love this. The references to logic and reasons for things, it really makes sense.
I don't think I ever really gave my children instructions (just trying to remember). I think I just helped them to be clean in as nice ways as I could think of. And they both seem to be happy and fine with doing it now (rather to my astonishment!)
It also occurs to me autistics have a tendency towards real phobias. So going on too much about hygiene or so could backfire.