Clothes and clothing with autism

You’ve probably read my last posts with me the telling you about Sensory Processing Disorder (or SPD in shortened form).  You see it can impact people with either negative or positive needs/desires.

I have always felt that children (especially babies) should always have clothes and towels etc that felt nice and comfortable on their skin.  And when Johnathan was born, anything even slightly scratchy would produce  red marks on his body – and if people didn’t hold or support him easily, they would happen too.

So I knew clothing would be an issue with him.  And yes there are so many more different ways children can hate clothing, or alternatively WANT it.  You have to be prepared for anything really, I guess.

In fact, I have known parents tell me their child preferred to be naked or ONLY wear….and children with such a high sensory need are more complicated to deal with in some ways.  What would I have done if Johnathan HAD been like that?  I don’t actually KNOW.  We all have to face different issues with our children and quite frankly until we HAVE to deal with it, we can’t make decisions on things like that.

Because of the sensory issues Johnathan DID have with clothes I would go and choose them myself.  He hated so many different things, it took some time to be sure everything was acceptable in his world.  Shoes, however, I knew they were something much more specialised and had to be bought from the shoe shop with Johnathan there.  It was hard enough to get hold of his feet on the changing mat he would HAVE to be happy with them.

I will say I was delighted to hear Kevin say Johnathan wanted to choose his OWN CLOTHES now.  And I think it’s a fantastic idea as he will have to ensure he buys what he likes.