I don’t know why I was so surprised when Jane threw a fit about a hairbrush. I have been combing her hair very gently since she was a baby. I switched to a hairbrush because she was screaming. Of course, she was a comb hurts more than a brush does on dry hair.
I carefully picked out what I thought would be a good brush for her hair. I was wrong. She screamed the first time I put it to her hair and made one stroke done through her hair. It startled me, and I quickly withdrew the brush. I calmed her down and continued. She screamed the entire time. I was relieved, and she was too when we were done.
I thought, okay, the wrong type of brush, and looked for another brush. Found another brush. Wrong. I bought probably five or six brushes until I finally found one that she liked the color, and it didn’t hurt as much. I think I may have been even softer with my brushing, so how could it hurt.
I have had the same problem with toothbrushes. She doesn’t like the way one toothbrush felt in her mouth. Her first toothbrush was a soft toddler-made toothbrush. I have never really taken her down the toothbrush aisle of the grocery store, so she has never seen the variety out there. It didn’t matter. I bought her a pack of toothbrushes and pulled the color she wanted, and we got it wet and put her favorite toothpaste for kids on it. She put it in her mouth and immediately refused to use it. Something about the feel wasn’t right. I bought a set of soft toothbrushes, so I couldn’t imagine it was too hard, but she wanted nothing to do with it.
Three different toothbrushes later, we found our happy spot. I don’t know if this is due to just being particular or if it is Autism. Maybe it is a little bit of both. I self-evaluate how much I blame Autism versus just everyday childhood things. I don’t want to use Autism as an excuse for all their problems or attitudes. Does that make sense?
How do you decipher between them? Let me know in the comments.
