35 thoughts on “Autism and Challenging Behaviour Part Seven – How to stop an autistic child from taking their clothes off in public. Some great tips!”

1. How do you deal with a child with autism wanting to run naked as there is two children in the home which are girls. Will this become a bigger problem as the kids get older?Right now girl age 9, girl age 4, autistic boy age 6

2. My 14 year old son has been stripping down naked outside and in the garage. Tonight he snuck out at 10 pm, stripped down and waded through the drainage ditches behind the house and behind the neighbors house. He said his head told him to go on a Safari adventure???? I would never go in those ditches in the daylight with clothes and shoes never mind butt naked.

3. My 14 year strips down to nothing when she is angry or wanting something. She will take off her shirt if she is hungry or wants something done right NOW.
   The issue that our family struggles with is that she wants everyone else’s cloths. She wants to wear some of the cloths…..but most of the time it is only to carry around.  Our struggle with clothing every where all the time is a battle that I would like to WIN. I realize that the fact that she takes off her clothing to get her point across should have been addressed when she was much younger. Yet, I am the step mom. Her mother would always give her what she wanted to get her clothing back on. As we ignore her behavior she will finally start getting dressed again. Yet, there are times when she is completely passionate about something and will start banging her head or running down the road. AT this point I will give her what she is wanting. This is the first forum I have seen with even a discussion on this issue. I would like to find any one who has had this same issue??? I am wondering if there are any other suggestion out there. We have purchased weighted blankets / lap pads. I will even heat them up in the dryer. WE are only a week into this trial period. I am having to hide/lock up every ones clothing to keep her from gathering and carrying…..Thank you for any shares.

4. Keepemon.com a site we have created with a bodysuit that has helped our son carter keep his clothes on

5. My son is eight and a well known stripper in this area of Altoona PA my cure to limit this he doesn’t do it as often anymore I take and physically make him put the clothes back on himself as soon as he takes them off or when I see it coming He loves those silk basketball shorts boys wear so when he gets home he’ ll bring me a pair off his bed I try to understand he feels better when he is in loose clothes he won’t wear blue jeans or layers

6. autistic5468 my son doesn’t want to wear anything… used to have to wait for him to fall asleep in order to get a diaper on him so he wouldn’t wet the bed. only thing we could do is let him go and limit his water intake before bed and make sure he goes potty before falling asleep.

7. my 11 year old daughter who has autism and also profoundly deaf, removes her pants and diaper at times. sometimes while sleeping. so we’d wake up and she’s wet the bed. initially, when she was 9-10 yrs old, i got her swim suits over her diaper and under her clothes. it is just hard to dress her up because of the many layers, but she got used to it and we eventually stopped putting it on her. now, the behaviour is back and the swim suits are too small to fit her. so instead of getting her bigger swimsuits, we got her pants with a string around the waist that we can tighten in a ribbon to prevent her pulling them down. and a onesies which i hope she will not outgrow anymore.
   i would recommend consistency when it comes to unacceptable behaviour. if i see her doing it, i pull them back up right away. even when she’s at home or in the privacy of her room.

8. autistic5468 I had a lot of trouble with my ASD son who is 3 now keeping his diaper on when he was younger , he would pull it off and waist so many diapers like that , I had to keep onesies on him for as long as i could and was lucky enough to find some larger ones , then i had to keep the zip up footie PJ’s on him until he figured out how to unzip them , i heard some people say you can cut the feet off and turn them backwards and that helps keep it on and the diaper , i also heard a few different people speak of duct tape around the waistline of the diapers lightly to prevent the child from pulling the tabs off

9. Does anyone have an Autistic child that will not
   keep his/her diaper on. I have an Autistic child
   that will not keep his diaper on for nothing.

10. My 16 year old son always likes to remove his clothes when he goes swimming in the pool.  Now, this wasn’t sure a big problem when he was 5 yrs old, but now that he’s hit puberty, it’s an entirely different story!  My sister is the only one that has a pool and so when she has parties at her house, my son will undoubtely want to swim and within minutes, the shorts are being flung out of the pool!  His other cousins are sometimes lifesavers and will put his shorts back on his (under the water), because he always seems to wait until he’s in the deep end to take off his shorts (where I can’t get to him).   I think he associates the pool water as the same as taking a “bath”.   He also likes to swim naked, which maybe that is not so abnormal, but you think about how it will affect him when he’s older and not able to live at home anymore (with Mom and Dad).    Does anyone else have problems with their child swimming or sleeping naked?  Not sure how common this is.   Thanks!

11. passionateapanda  I could not have said it better!!!!

12. mysonmyworld  This is a great idea and I will try to lay out his clothes before he gets to the point of stripping . At this point I will try any thing to keep him dressed. I am so scared to send him any where because in the end result some one will eventually call social service and give an opinion of some thing they know nothing about. I find that if people don’t know what is possible with an autistic child unless they have some education on the matter. Thank you for your input and your involvement on this site.

13. mysonmyworld   same here although now he is older (13) he is not runing about naked, but is in his pj’s straight away from school and stays in them as long as he can, if we travel any distance he wants to be in pjama bottoms only and i am fine with this so long as he is covering his mondesty

14. My son, 9 yo Aspie, only has this issue when he goes to the bathroom.  I would hear him screaming and yelling from the bathroom because he couldn’t get his clothes off fast enough and apparently needed to REALLY go.  (He also had other “odd” bathroom behaviors).  He is now 9 and he still comes out of the restroom with his shorts on backwards and shirt inside out (which is how I know he still strips to go to the restroom).  As a baby, before we knew anything, he would fuss and fuss unless we took his pants off.  It was his diaper as well, back when they used plastic tabs vs the now fabric tabs.  He was fine with shirts.  Sensory was what we were always told, back when he was four.  However, now that he’s 9, I’ve asked him why he takes all of his clothes off when he goes to the bathroom (even in a public restroom – which he used to REFUSE to use anyones restroom but our own, in our house), his response, “I don’t know…I just do”.

15. My son dose the same thing if people dont know anything about autistic behavior then they need to mind their own business

16. As soon as my 10yr old autistic son walks in the front door he is stripping his clothes off. He hates wearing anything but basketball shorts and a big tee shirt So b4 i even go pick him up from the bus stop I set out a tee shirt and a pair of basketball shorts cause he wears a uniform to school. It helps to lay the clothes out b4 my son gets home that way when he gets home and starts stripping i can point and tell him ok theres your conffy clothes and he is not just walking around in his underware

17. It is probably sensory related. Have you noticed certain materials it is worse with to stick with only buying certain material, or remove all tags. My kids both do this at home. One is growing out of it, not as bad as he was, and one still does but not in public.

18. My 6yo autistic son does this frequently at home or grandmas where he feels comfortable. I personally have no issue with this behavior but my family doesn’t seem to be as accepting of this. I have recently had a social worker come to the home and ask “accusations are that you allow your son to run around naked is this true? ” I answer in fact he does this is his house and if he doesn’t want to wear clothes what’s the problem? I’m tired of other uneducated people making assumptions that because my child is naked there is a bigger issues there is and it’s their stupidity. He did however undress himself at school but he stopped doing that about 3 months ago. The second he comes home from school he takes them all off and runs threw the house FREE!

19. I’m Autistic and this used to be a real issue for me personally – quite dangerously so-. I just very commonly didn’t understand what the issue was with it and it was by being discouraged from doing it is what stopped me doing it and eventually the situation fixed itself. I don’t personally advocate it but slapping me was what worked and kept me safe in public, I didn’t want to do it after that and it was embarrassing to be hit and I didn’t like being hit. If you could find a suitable deterrent for your situations, I’m sure that would work.

20. klcooks  Thank you for your reply and any advice is well taken. We have been up and down with Johnathan and he is aware some times ans others not. We have had some extremely embarrassing moments and some that have angered us to the point were we sounded off to the people who were so rude and uncaring to our grand son. We will always be aware of some one who will belittle children that are challenged when it comes to every day advantages and down rite disrespectful. We will embrace your ideas and put them to the test Thank you again for your thoughts and cares  Terry Clark  .

21. My son Chase has always been a “flasher” of sorts but as in everything, I’m learning he requires routine.  At home, I allow him to stay nude for about 5 minutes and then we put on his pajamas or a comfortable shirt with shorts.  He used to do it mainly in the car but now he only takes off his socks and shoes.  It’s been trial and error but I think the key is to not get frustrated.  I think Chase picked up on our embarassment and frustration at times and it only made it worse.  I will continue to train him as to what is appropriate so it can be routine.  Keep praying not only for our children but for the strength, courage and wisdom to care for them while we wait on real medical solutions.

22. This behavior only started recently (past 2 months) in my 9 y/o ASD son. He too, starts the strip upon arriving home from school, typically with his shirt and socks, but is often totally in the nude in his room when playing his iPad or on the family laptop. On occasion he will appear downstairs to watch TV naked much to the dismay of his sisters. He used to be very modest and now is unfazed. I gently remind him that not everyone is impressed or appreciates all of his body parts and since some are dirtier than others because they aren’t washed as often, perhaps they could be covered when using common areas and provided him a robe….We’ll see what happens!

23. I always have problems with him and clothes and it seems like the only time he will get dressed is if we are going to go out side and if it is nice he wants to undress.

24. Iam a motheof a 4 year diagnosed with autism and I have zthe same issues regarding the clothes matter he also don’t like socksnor shoes

25. I have not figured out why Johnathan takes his clothes off and I don’t  know if I ever will and it has become a big big issue for us to keep him in clothes.  We went to McDonalds play land and Jonathan took his clothes off in the slide and while we were trying to get his clothes on the manager approached us and very sarcastically asked if we was planning on dressing our son. and it was then that i realized that only a few people would understand what autism is and my Johnathan would always need some one to defend him as to the fact he cant talk or work out problems that are essential to functioning in every day living. and when it comes to people being cruel and demeaning to him he would not know that he was being attacked because of his Autism. Johnathan is very loving and dont have a violent bone in his body and when it comes to pain he does not react to pain in any way we would . I am fifty years old and have custody of my five year old grand son and my greatest fear is that I am going to get to old to take care of him when he is older . Johnathan does not have any one else to step up and take over the responsibility of guardian. I find every day I am living life in desperation to find away to make sure he will be loved and not abused when I am gone.and that is the worst thing I could live with.

26. My son also feels warm or egen hot most of the time. I would like to know if anyone knows if there are any theories why they feel hot. Does it have anything to do with metabolism, nutrition, inflammatory, or something else?

27. My daughter used to strip when she was angry, it didn’t matter where she was at. She has since outgrown that stage. The only thing she does everyday is change her clothes back into pajamas as soon as she gets home from school everyday.

28. I’m wondering if it has something to do with feeling safe and secure at home and stripping outside or at school could be their way of telling us they don’t feel secure and want to go home? I know my son doesn’t like trousers with buttons and certain tops. He also hates wearing socks and they are the 1st things to be removed as soon as we walk thru the door

29. My son does this and I never linked it to the autism or the sensory issues.  He only does it at home in the afternoon.  It usually starts with his left sock.  about an hour or two later the pants will follow.  Next would be his shirt.  Last is the other sock.

30. My student used to take all his clothes off at inappropriate times when he came back to school after his long break. My co-teacher and I had to struggle with him everyday to make him wear his clothes back and it was so terrible back then. 30 mins to put on one piece of clothing and he would attempt to remove one 10 mins later.
    After 2 weeks, we realised what triggered him is the extra clothings his classmates bring and the stripping is a sign to show he wants to change out of his clothes (mostly for the fun of it). We were firm with him and told him he can’t strip and even if he dirtied his clothes by throwing it out of the window, he has to wear the soiled ones or the wet one if we helped him to wash. We also removed the extra clothes out of the other students’ bag to emphasise that he won’t be able to get a change of clothes. He stopped it after the first month and he stopped the stripping altogether. There are times where he still unzipped his pants, but he will zip it up seconds after.
    Mommy was a great help too! She enforced the “no stripping” mentality at home and would correct him if he tried removing his clothes. She told us she told him to remove his clothes then put it on again until he was so frustrated with it and had reducing his stripping moments day by day.

31. I have been trying to keep Johnathan`s clothes on for over a year now and I am loosing the fight completely . This is one reason we wont put Johnathan in public school because as soon as we do they will call social services and before you know it the state will be right there to demolish all the work and care you have worked on so hard, My true love for Johnathan is my rock and he is actually saving me and lets in this most amazing love that i would not have ever known if I hadn’t of taken him into my life.

32. My stepdaughter to be is 11, she used to take all her clothes off a lot when she was younger, up to about 9 years old, although the last time she did it was at school about 6 months ago. She was very frustrated at the time and calmed down this year since they placed her in a more practical skills oriented class, compared to a more vocational class she was in last year.
    She doesnt have major issues with textures of fabrics etc, it seems more as if she feels trapped in her clothes when she feels pressured to do things she doesnt like , like talking.
    We , as primary carers as well as the school remanded her and just keep telling her it is inappropriate, tell her to keep at least the minimum on and repeat..
    It seems to be under control now.
    Also we or mom, only allow her to change in the room or bathroom, to enforce that those are the only approptiate places to do so, for example if she swam and prepare to take her costume off next to the pool, we’d say no, go to your room before taking it off.
    I think with time, patience and love the idea somehow got through.

33. My son is 12 now also, and has always been happier without clothes.  I wont say he hates wearing them, but the speed with which he casts them aside when possible suggests he prefers to be without them.  I have NEVER had an issue with getting him to keep his pants on. So it’s never a NAKED issue as such.  But he’s at the age were pants aren’t cutting it either! 😉  
    I am sure it has something to do with fabric and comfort, but i also think it has something very much to do with his body temperature.  I think his body temperature is difficult to regulate.  So he always feels hot.  When its freezing and he’s sitting in the room playing or watching TV you would think he would be an ice block but just touching his skin you realise that he is absolutely warm enough.  Occasionally it is the opposite (but rarely).  

    I don’t have a problem with it per se, because he understands that it is only acceptable at home.  If he gets especially comfy at friends or family, he would do the same, but it is because he feels comfortable in their presence and feels “at home”.   

    My main advise would always be to encourage your child to do whatever it is you think is appropriate.  Explain it in words that they can understand and be respectful of their ability to understand.  They can ALL understand something at their level.  You can add detail and depth as they get older and might absorb some more of the nuances.  But the initial focus would be – state what behaviour you want and help them with it. If they forget or dont get the context, dont worry about that, just tell them again and help them! It takes ALL people time to learn things, some people just take longer than others – and finally, if they genuinely like doing something that isnt ALWAYS a problem, let them have the freedom to do that and enjoy it, and let them know you ok with that.

34. My son is 12 now but has always hated wearing clothes from the time he was 2 yrs. old.  I’m thinking it’s the feeling of the fabric on his skin.  We’ve gotten him to understand that he can not just take his clothes off wherever he is, we’ve explained the whole thing about his private parts that no one should see…and made him aware of how Mommy and Daddy always wear clothes even if it’s our night clothes at home.  He has issues wearing anything that has a waist with no give with zipper and button, so we always have to look for drawstring or loose elastic waistbands. All shirts have to be label free and have no design on the front, he said he feels the design and it hurts.  He hates wearing coats, sweaters, sweatshirts, long sleeves, long pants, hats, and gloves.  It’s hard sometimes, because buying clothes to his liking is not easy to find in his size…I’m afraid it will only get tougher as he gets bigger/older!  He sings in Choir at school and loves it, so when he has a concert and has to wear certain clothes he will do it because he wants to sing in the concert. Then he wants to rush home afterward so he can take his clothes off!! I’m not sure if he will ever overcome his desire to without clothes, but I’ve at least gotten him to understand everyone has to wear clothes to cover and protect their privates!!! I don’t know if any of this helps anyone, I hope it does.

35. Hi my 3 yr old son has to strip down to his nappy as soon as we walk in the door! If he has a meltdown while out he pulls his trousers down! And when he is told no at home he pulls his nappy down too! I keep pulling it up until he stops doing it.,