BUZZer Blog Part 1
In in my over 20 years of being privileged to have worked with so many children and their families, I have met very FEW children that enjoy this simple event that most of us so often look forward to every 4-8 weeks, I know I certainly look forward to having it done.
This event along with so many other life skills, is not only something that parents avoid, dislike or fear to do, but prolong this to the point that when they decide to do something about it, waiting made it that much harder. You feel constantly between a rock and a hard place almost every day having to think about when to do this? So, what am I talking and rambling on about today you ask…two words...HAIR CUTS!!!
In the many years of working with families, I have come across various types of scenarios and situations that parents have been honest in telling me that usually happen and examples of how they take matters into their own hands the best way they can to get this process done. I equate this to looking at a menu of the types of haircuts that have been given.
Some of those types have included:
The Sleeper Style:
Description: You try to tip toe into your child’s room and when they are sound asleep, you attempt to start to buzz and/or cut their hair hoping that they do not wake up, styling it the best that you can.
The Settle Style:
Description: Your child is pre-occupied doing something else and has their back turned to you. Out of desperation, you walk past carefully cutting or buzzing pieces of hair that you can get to a little bit at a time just so you could see their face at least for a few weeks no matter how uneven it is. You are grateful you were able to cut the hair you did already and end thinking about how you will do this again at another time to work on the other side that you weren’t able to get to today.
The Cut and Release Style:
Description: You just go for it and chase around with your child in efforts to cut and/or buzz what you can as you pass each other by. I guess we could also call this the “exercise style”, as not only is your heart rate up from the stress you feel from having to resort to such measures, but you are sweating and getting a little bit of a workout in as you do this.
The Hug That Never Ends Style:
Description: You cringe and make the decision to just go to either the hair salon, barber shop or have someone that knows how to cut hair come to your house. You sit with your child on your lap hugged snuggly in your arms and tell the stylist: “Ready, Set, GO & PLEASE HURRY!” This is such a struggle and the longest 5-10 or even longer minutes of your life, that at this point you are struggling to keep your child with you. In addition, you and your child have all these bits of hair stuck to each other because your child is crying and sweating so much for the haircut to stop. It was traumatizing for both of you.
It was hearing about all these measures and experiencing with parents firsthand what a day in the life was like for them to go through this, that I created this blog and frankly another reason why I wanted to create Aut 2 Bee Learning, LLC. After seeing for myself and hearing how brave parents are and how much help they needed, I made it a mission of mine to both write these blogs to help others and to see if new ways to both look and teach these behaviors could be accomplished all at the same time.
If you can relate to ANY one of these types of haircuts or at one point have chosen and sampled all of them at one time or another, I am writing this blog specifically about you, for you and to you. I want you to know that I HEAR YOU, I SEE YOU and YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Especially during the time of the pandemic when so many openings to places, depending on where you live were limited or not running as they typically would, learning how to help yourself and your child was and still is more important than EVER before. I not only appreciate and know the necessity in getting this daily living skill completed intermittently throughout the year, but I understand why parents would resort to these measures because they simply just don’t know what else they can do or where to LEARN HOW this process can be made better for both parents/caregivers and most importantly for their child, especially those diagnosed with Autism.
Here's where I tell you that I can teach you how to make these once daunting tasks less worrisome and something that you and your child can learn to do on a more routine basis. What if I told you that it is possible for your child to learn to tolerate and dare I say, pose less resistance or learn to accept the need for haircuts after practicing some simple steps that I teach you to do? Remember The 3 P’s = “Plan, Pair and Practice” from my last Buzz Blog post? I’ll get into how using this will be so important in Part 2 of next week’s Buzz Blog post. In the meantime, I created an anonymous survey that I would appreciate if you would fill out to help me better assess some of these areas having to do with this topic. Subsequently, this feedback will benefit others based upon specific challenges most reported in the survey and in my experience have been the most challenging for the families I have been privileged to work with.
Join me next week for Part 2 of this buzz blog on haircuts, that uses the “The 3 “P’s” (a.k.a. Pairing, Planning and Practicing steps). Remember, if you haven’t already read my buzz blog post on “The 3 P’s”, I highly recommend reading it to better understand and get the most out of next week’s Buzz Blog post. For your convenience, you can access that specific Buzz Blog post here. In the meantime, if haircuts are a struggle for you and your loved one, please click on the survey button below and let’s continue to explore more about this together.
All my best,
Sue