As regular readers of AutismTalk  and this blog know we are very interested in discussing how  people with autism and ASD and their caregivers have managed  to deal with the myriad of social situations which can be generated by the interaction of autistic people with the world.

One of those issues which frequently comes up is that of taking off clothes in unsuitable places.  Indeed there is quite a famous autism meme on the internet which reminds its readers “Not to be surprised if someone appears in the nude in this house” or words to that effect.

Our son, I’ll be honest, while happy to wear clothes does like taking them off for serious activities like playing on the iPad or watching science fiction on the TV.  It normally takes him around 30 minutes before he has  removed at least one garment after returning from school or a trip at the weekend.

That being said he never takes his clothes off at school unlike a number of his fellow students, according to the teachers at his unit .  Indeed over the last few weeks he has on a couple of occasions asked if we could put some back on.

I’d say it is for John a minor issue but for others this is very much not the case.   Indeed most people who see him after stripping know him well and are relaxed about it.  It would be great if we could hear from others about their experiences in this area.  It would be useful if you could think in terms of some of the following questions:-

a)     Do you have a problem with a child with autism taking off their clothes?

b)    Do you have a feel for what triggers this kind of behaviour and does it have any specific places where it manifests itself?

c)     How did you overcome it?

d)    What one piece of advice would you give to other parents and caregivers in such a situation?

These questions are only a guide.  Please feel free to use the comments boxes below to add anything you think may be of interest on the subject to our readers.

 

Nana62	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
Athansmom	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.
teenaok45	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.
Tabbitha14	Keepemon.com a site we have created with a bodysuit that has helped our son carter keep his clothes on
ColtonsMomma	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
Bones235	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.
MylaBides	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.
ShannonKrohn	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
autistic5468	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.
dmwarwick	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!
Terry Clark	passionateapanda  I could not have said it better!!!!
Terry Clark	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.
beaniebikerbabe	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
graycelikerain	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”.
mysonmyworld	My son dose the same thing if people dont know anything about autistic behavior then they need to mind their own business
mysonmyworld	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
tifleah	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.
passionateapanda	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!
teenagerwithautistim	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.
Terry Clark	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  .
klcooks	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.
Harmony6	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!
Terry Clark	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.
LalaliciouzArciga	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
Terry Clark	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.
FamWallman	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?
autumnjoy79	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.
VickiDennison	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
RosieMarie	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.
Trixie Ong