haircut

Dr. Sonya Doherty

Dr. Sonya Doherty has very kindly allowed us to republish this fascinating article on Sensory Processing Disorder and haircuts! She is a licensed and board certified Naturopathic Doctor who is an active member of the CAND. Sonya Doherty completed her undergraduate training at the University of Western Ontario in a Bachelor of Science Honors Kinesiology program. Very experienced in the field of autism you can access her website here.

Doherty writes “Yesterday we had to endure the horror of cutting our son’s hair. He is 2 ½ years old and a year ago he developed sensory processing disorder after his stage I surgical repair of a severe birth defect. Hypospadias can range from mild to severe but in Magnus’s case, it was one of the worse defects his surgeon had seen. We were terrified of so many things before the surgery. Magnus was only 18 months old and as parents we had no idea what to expect. Our surgeon is incredible but would the surgery work? Would he be in pain? Would the medications cause any long term effects?

As a naturopathic doctor who specializes in treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, I was particularly worried about the research that links anesthetic to ADHD. Our family history of ADHD combined with multiple surgeries could dramatically increase Magnus’s chances of having trouble focusing and staying calm. What we didn’t think about was sensory processing. Our older son had experienced behavioural issues related to sensory problems but it didn’t occur to us that our previously neurotypical toddler could experience a sensory crash that would change his life .(and ours)

Magnus’s first haircut was on January 9, 2012. Forever immortalized with the help of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. I couldn’t wait to take the picture because the hairdresser said she had NEVER had a toddler who was so good for his first haircut. My daughter is all pink inside. She loves all things that pamper her beautiful self. We started taking Magnus on our girlie haircut trips and each new hairdresser marvelled at our stoic little man who sat calmly while his hair was coiffed.

On May 22^nd, Dr. Luis Braga (a.k.a The Penis Artist), performed the first of 3 surgeries needed to correct Magnus’s birth defect. A defect that mounting evidence is linking to environmental toxins. We were at McMaster Children’s Hospital for 3 days and our little man did remarkably well. So well, in fact, that he was running around MAC high on morphine. The nurses and doctors were shocked that he could be so “mobile” while on 6 mg of morphine!

Encouraged, we took our handsome boy home. We were one step closer to him enjoying a normal adult male life and hopefully being a parent himself one day. I had anticipated the diarrhea. Magnus was on some pretty heavy duty antibiotics to protect the delicate skin graft that was crucial to repairing his hypospadias. The eczema wasn’t a shock either, especially with the NIH Human Microbiome Project pumping out research linking the healthy gut flora (eradicated by antibiotics) to eczema, allergies and asthma. In the beginning, we assumed that tantrums were because of pain. The poor kid had had his genitals sliced and stitched. The fact that his surgery was done by one of the leading (the leading in our opinion) pediatric urologists in the world didn’t negate the fact that pain would make any kid upset.

After a couple of weeks of screaming, crying, biting and hitting; we started to track what was triggering Magnus to be so upset. It was then that I realized that his sensory system had crashed. There was no other way to describe it.

Magnus’s symptoms included:

Gagging when we tried to feed him.

Jumping up and down on the furniture for hours

Getting stuck on one thing, like a song or toy, and losing his mind if he had to transition (Magnus would only play with yellow blocks and listen to Rhianna’s song What’s My Name)

Bumping into things and people, our daycare provider described it as “wobbly”

Banging his head into our head or other hard surfaces (this happened when he was frustrated too but it would sometimes seem like he was soothing himself by head-butting us)

Sudden mood changes and long tantrums including self-injurious head banging, biting and hitting

Crawling along the floor while he played with toys, crawling up and down the stairs like a snake

Distressed at every diaper change

Constant movement

Toe walking

Repetitive “circuits” when he played

Instant tantrum if his shirt got wet or if he got something on his hands and/or feet

Refusal to put on certain clothes and attempts to constantly remove what he was wearing

AGONY with getting his haircut!!!!

I am extremely fortunate to work with over 1500 families who have children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Sensory issues are very common for children on the spectrum and I immediately went into action mode to see if we could decrease the pain Magnus was experiencing. Because it is painful. If you have a child who screams when they get their haircut or who experiences sensory processing issues; they are in pain. Their behaviour is a communication to you that their body feels attacked by their external environment.

We removed all grains from Magnus’s diet. This approach is called the SCD, GAPS or Paleo diet. The grains can disrupt sensory processing and in Magnus’s case, this was the first major intervention we did that relieved his discomfort. The diarrhea got better, the tantrums lessened but we still had and have a long way to go. We initiated methyl B12 therapy, probiotics, B6, methyl folate (on the advice of the wonderful Dr. Wendy Edwards J). When we added in methyl folate, Magnus started playing with blocks of all colours and would listen to songs from the CARS movie. Next we added a homeopathic remedy called Belladonna, prescribed by Magnus’s ND, Dr. Saunders. His interest in playing with toys typically again increased and he started letting us change his diaper without having to hold him down. Small steps in some ways but big steps towards repairing his brain and getting him back to being able to process sensory information more effectively.

What I have discovered in my 10 years of practicing as a naturopathic doctor; is that sensory issues can be supported through individualized assessment and treatment. They are also strongly related to the gastrointestinal tract. The right diet and supplements can dramatically reduce the pain of trying to process external stimuli for those with SPD. At 2 ½ years old, we are coming up on one year of biomedical treatment for Magnus. Each step brings him further away from his “sensory crash” and allows him to enjoy the world around him. He is off his toes and although he still has transitional tantrums; he is no longer stuck on just one thing. His interests have increased. His language is catching up. He is happy and smiles most of the time. Yesterday we gave him a haircut… and he screamed bloody murder. We ran him down to the shower, like we have since his surgery, and washed off the hair that was causing him extreme discomfort. Today, I realized in my attempt to get his hair cut quickly, I missed a little patch. I pulled out the clippers and got ready for the meltdown but instead Magnus reached for the hair clippers and said “on”. I turned them on and he dipped his head to let me trim the wayward patch. Each step makes a big difference and cumulatively, they have changed Magnus’s life. We hope in another year we can look back, like we did with our oldest son, and say that Magnus has overcome SPD.

Here’s a SPD checklist: http://spdfoundation.net/symptoms.html

Dr. Sonya

Natural Care Clinic

Autism and haircuts

Now when I was my son’s age I have to admit that I hated getting my hair cut. I think it was the boredom of waiting so long for the barber to get round to me that did it.

But with our son John this is not the case at all. He hates having a haircut and when I mean hate I really do mean hate. So much so on one of his first outing to my mother’s hairdresser the people from the shop next door came over to see if there was a problem. So meltdowns were the order of the day. You can find some great tips for dealing with meltdowns in the comments section of one of our older blog posts here https://patienttalk.org/?p=2349. Why? Well in John’s case he has sensory processing disorder which means the feeling of having his hair cut is, to him, one of massive overload of the senses.

Over the years we tried various strategies. These included cutting his hair at home by a professional hairdresser who is also a friend. The poor woman ended up cutting her hand with her rather sharp scissors during the haircut as John attempted to do a runner! We also went to a specialist autism hairdresser. The problem was that she was only available during the hours that my wife and I were at work. Even if we could have made it would have taken around an hour’s journey to get to the venue.

So how did we solve the problem? Well actually luck rather than judgement. He rather desperately

Autism and haircuts

needed his hair cut and our then nanny Willow offered to take him. It turned out that she had spotted a local barbers shop which she thought could help.

I had a haircut there yesterday so I thought I would take the opportunity to show what the big draw for Willow was in two pictures illustrating the blog. As you can see they have a car. One John could sit in. And you can see the TV as well – offering a section of the finest space-related cartoons that humans can make. Not just that – in his hand was Willow’s iPhone with an exciting game of “Angry Birds” on the go. Did it work?
Well more or less. His hair got cut and no one went to hospital. But most importantly he started to calm down when his hair was being cut. So yes it is a rather incremental thing but it worked for us.

In fact these days he is happy to grasp an iPad and have his head clippered as long as it takes less than five minutes.

That’s how we did it. How about you? One of the objectives of blog posts like this is to get other members of the autism community to share their experiences with others. It would be great if you could share your story about getting haircuts either for yourself or your loved one. Please feel free to use the comments box below to share.

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You might like to think in terms of the following questions:-

a) Did you have particular problems with haircuts?

b) What was the root cause of the problems?

c)What techniques did you use to overcome the problem and end it with a cut which worked?

d) What advice would you give to a parent about to embark on the hair cutting autism journey?

And finally there is another option. Don’t bother. One of the boys in John’s class (they all have ASD) just has long hair. It’s clean and looks great. Albeit a bit heavy mental fan circa 1980. So that may prove the best way out.

Kylesmum	My 5 year old will have a meltdown with every haircut but the funny thing is that he will keep still … it’s so hard for me to watch cause what we do is that my husband will cut his hair with the clippers whist my son is sitting in the bath (empty of course) and he puts up with with about 10-15 mind of very emotional crying, trembling and sweating but once he is done he hits the off button on the machine and my son will start so sing and laughing with relief. We have tried to put him in the empty bath with lots of thing to try to distract him but nothing seems to work e.g. iPad, favourite toys, turned the bath into a ball park nothing seems to calm him but as I said the only good thing is that he wount fight it and he can get his hair done quickly
Kylesmum	My 5 year old will have a meltdown with every haircut but the funny thing is that he will keep still … it’s so hard for me to watch cause what we do is that my husband will cut his hair with the clippers whist my son is sitting in the bath (empty of course) and he puts up with with about 10-15 mind of very emotional crying, trembling and sweating but once he is done he hits the off button on the machine and my son will start so sing and laughing with relief. We have tried to put him in the empty bath with lots of thing to try to distract him but nothing seems to work e.g. iPad, favourite toys, turned the bath into a ball park nothing seems to calm him but as I said the only good thing is that he wount fight it and he can get his hair done quickly .
MylaBides	my husband and i used to wait until my daughter was asleep before we cut her hair. that was until she was 8-9. then we bought clippers which we first used on my younger son while she watched. when it was her turn, she didn’t protest. maybe because she saw my son was alright. or maybe because she was playing around the playground, walking around while my husband followed her around. of course he had to use rechargeable clippers. the wire simply will not cut it–pardon the pun!
Timingreenville	At that age he would sit in my, his dad’s, lap.
Timingreenville	We were very concerned with taking our 16 year old. I spoke to Christian at Great Clips as she cut my hair. She said to bring him in and they would work with in. A big issue with us is getting him in and out of the car. Transitions can be very hard for him. This time he sat through and shocked my wife and I. Then he got up and had to turn off the lights. I tried to prevent but he had to do it. Then he walked right out like no big deal. Now with summer we will buzz him outside on the deck. He has gotten better about getting around his ears. It tickles.
SarahMKInnes	My (almost) 7yr old (ASD and ADHD) just had his hair cut today. He will only have it cut at Sharkey’s (kids haircutting place) and will only allow the hairdresser use scissors – NO clippers whatsoever. Today there was a minor meltdown when he found out that their Super Mario game had worn out and they threw it out (he is obsessed with Super Mario) but once we got over that he was a bit squirmy but made out ok. I find what helps is if the hairdresser warns him beforehand (eg. “I’m going to spray some more water now”). We also try to make sure it is the same person every time that cuts his hair.
SneakyMumInOmaha	Read SneakyMumInOmaha
SneakyMumInOmaha	My 5yr old screams bloody murder everytime we try to cut his hair…except for that time when he woke up with a buzz cut. Oh yes I did. The trick is to turn the clippers on from a distance and then walk toward him. They’re pretty loud when you fire them up. And make sure your clippers are well oiled so they don’t pull his hair. You don’t want him waking up with a partial buzz-cut. And you’ll want to lay a towel down for easy cleanup and an itchless night. Good luck 🙂
sneedley13	Similar to PeterKijek below , our biggest problem was getting Connor to sit still in the chair. He also like to look around and see what everyone is doing. He now plays with the iPad/iPhone when he’s in the chair. We have found that he is much better when his Dad takes him rather than me, usually because he will get his hair cut at the same time (first) so Connor can see it, although we still have problems around the ears, either with the clippers or the scissors!
marionburns	TiffanyIvison https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=106711162797745&ref=ts&fref=ts get in touch and i will talk you through some tips .
TiffanyIvison	I have not found a way to make it work yet and am open to suggestions! My son is almost 2 and was just diagnosed with Autism, we already knew he had SPD. He was born with a lot of hair so we have had to visit the hair dressers many times and it gets worse with each visit. We are due for another cut soon and I have anxiety just thinking about it.
EricaPurtell	I’ve found that if my Partner (his father) gets his hair cut first with my son watching we’re all good until we get to trimming around the ears- that’s the only thing we have a problem with….
lifeisarainbowmummy	My son is actually sensory seeking at times and he loved my hairdresser who offered head massages even as a baby so he looked forward to getting his hair cut. We had major issues when my hairdresser went on maternity leave but we managed to convince him to let my new hairdresser cut his hair. One interesting thing we have found is that our son dislikes parting with any part of himself, after every haircut he has had, he has got down on the floor and picked up every last hair… thankfully he has the angelic looks to get away with it and hairdressers happily provide him with a bag – and we have a money bag full of hair for every single haircut he has had in the last 6 years! We even have a little tub of nail clippings (bag over head) as he would not let me clip his nails which he despises unless he could keep them. He was also terrified of losing his first tooth and sobbed for an hour when he realised his tooth was wobbling as he was terrified the tooth fairy would take it from him. We had to promise he could keep it in his sterling silver my first tooth box and wrote to the tooth fairy to ask if he could keep it. He still got a pound and a very reassuring letter from the tooth fairy!
marybethpalo	I too had the same problems – what I had discovered was that my son not only learned from video but also we could film future events like a hair cut and the anxiety basically disappeared. So – I used video modeling for years to teach and to familiarize my son with situations. Seeing a man getting his hair cut up close and being able to watch it over and over seemed to do the trick. We had been cutting his hair at home, in the bath tub, on the swing – you name it we had tried it!
PeteKijek	Actually, I have had a similar experience with my autistic son. His main problem was not sitting still in the barbers chair, and he constantly looks round to see what the barber is doing! As you’ve mentioned, the TV nearby is a great distraction for him, (he’s a bit too big and too old for a car chair now 😉 ) but he also enjoys looking in the mirror at what the person is doing. I think he never quite understood how what was happening in the mirror was what was happening to the back of his head!

Patient Talk

Patient Talk

Sensory Processing Disorder and haircuts! A guest post from Dr. Sonya Doherty

Autism and Challenging Behaviour Part Five- Getting a Haircut