Is hair-pulling an asd thing? | Autism PDD
Vaseline huh? Great Idea Kali! My son used to twirl his hair, his dads hair, and hates when I put my curly hair up....now that I have cut his hair shorter, he pulls it out right at the bangs!!! It ALWAYS looks like he has a bad hair cut! I have tried to spike it so that at least it looks kind of cool but he HATES his hair spiked...major melt down as soon as I grab the gel!
In this case...definately a sensory calming stim.
They have a "balm" used I think for african american hair that someone was telling me about for Mason. He said it costs like 1.97 and you just rub it in, no gel, no blow dryer no tramatic hair sessions for the boy. He said he just rubs it through his hair and it sticks straight up.Just a thought
Thanks "MasonsMom" Another great idea...He looks so much better with his hair spiked...but hmmm my first impression was that he didn't like the look of it...but really, perhaps it IS the gel....I am sure he would tell me if I just asked him
Big greatful hugs to ALL for all the spectacular stories, advice, and thought provoking info!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't read the whole tread. I think most ( babies) toddlers pull hair. I would not think of Autism at all without other factors.MY son pulls his own hair out by rubbing his fingernails through an area on his head. He says it feels good. He's already had bald spots in areas and sparce hair in others. He does this while riding in the car,doing his homework,watching tv,etc. In the past I've put vaseline on the areas which would stop it for a while. Anyone else with this problem?I do agree that this is often an ASD behavior. I just wanted to point out that not all of these behaviors are out of line for other kids...without other indicators, I would look for something else.
I was thinking of a 2 year old in a child care home that Mason went to very little around 5 months old. Never had any issues at all, other than being 2. One day she started with the hair pulling on the sitter. Later, while the toddlers were playing on the patio, the sitter dashed inside to use the restroom, with the door open, while my lil guy was laying under a play gym in her living room. The 2 year old quietly slipped into the room and bit Mason in many places...not in a rage, the woman was really, really upset and couldn't understand.
Turned out the mother had abandoned the family, when dad came to pick them up he looked like he had been hit by a truck. She hadn't been gone long, but we figured out that this little girl's life had spun out of control recently, that was why she was acting out like this.........
My son pulls my hair quite often. However, it isn't out of anger it is more of a way to get me or my head where he wants it. He will yank down if he needs me to put my head in his belly or pull it towards him if he wants my face near his and then sometimes its just when he is excited. Doesn't do much for his sisters....Caleb has an extreme obsession with hair. He will take mine down, run it between his fingers, smell it, lick it etc. Our OT said it was very calming for him and meeting alot of sensory issues so I am assuming it is not necessarily a ASD thing , but a Sensory thing. Although alot of kiddos with SID are on the spectrum but not always.Ethan loves hair. Especially his older brothers who has very tight curls. I don't think he means to hurt us, but he loves the feel and sometimes "squeezes" too hard. He is a real hair twirler too. I have not been able to cut it because he plays with it constantly. He has given himself "dread locks" in some spots. My 4 older kids pulled hair on occasion in a naughty way, but this is completely different. Hard to explain without seeing. So yes, I always thought this was maybe a sensory thing?
Two year olds are full of behaviors, and then discovering reactions. This is social learning. Even if they are not angry, they will revisit a behavior to determine if the reaction of one adult is consistent with the reaction of another adult. If done for this reason, it kind of eliminates the autism possibility, because autism behaviors such as this are typically sensory oriented and not checking for a reaction in order to determine that there is still order in the universe. Othery typical 2 year old behaviors include kicking, biting and screaming.
Man I love toddlers.
Well, I think the only ASD child that this teacher knows is my own - Jair - sowhen she said that, I had to look at her carefully to see if she was being
sarcastic or not. I see how it could be a sensory/interesting (to see
reactions) thing for this girl, but so far she hasn't been coming there long
enough for me to see any other language/sensory/behaviors. At the nursery where I work, we have a 2-yo who pulls other kids' hair. She
doesn't do it out of anger, just goes right over and grabs a fistful, tugs. We
teachers were discussing this, and one of them said she thinks it might be
an autistic thing. I didn't think so, but I guess it could be. What do you all
think?
It just seems like all behavior problems might start being attributed to
"autism," in the mind of the public. I think hair pulling is a natural aggression in any 2 year old. This also happens to be one of my son's worst qualities........I have been trying to stop it since he was about 7 months. He doesn't do it to me anymore, but lord help any new adult in his life.
I would say that without any other indicative behaviors, this is just a 2 year old with some frustration/aggresion issues. (the only being more frustrated and aggressive than a 2 year old girl is a 12 year old one!
)I know very much what you're talking about sleuth, from a different and worrying perspective.
My youngest son has pulled hair and been biting for many months. It is definitely not out of aggression. It's more of a comfort issue for him. Yes, many babies and toddlers bite or pull hair when they are angry, upset, or trying to get their way, but my little one will just grab for hair over and over, perfectly calm, but obsessively persistent. The same goes for biting.
He doesn't respond to another's reaction of pain, either. If he does manage to pull hair or bite, and the person yelps or cries, he seems oblivious to it.
There are others things I'm seeing in him too, and it's really making me wonder if it's all connected.
Children, even at two, don't just go around pulling kid's hair without anger, so I'm thinking that the teacher is pretty sharp not to just jump in and says he's "bad.". It may not be ASD, but sounds like something sensory. The child would have to have other symptoms of ASD to have it--maybe late speech, lack of eye contact, not liking change, not eating certain foods, rocking, head banging, etc...not all of those things, but you know the ASD issues; especially the very poor interaction. I've found most behavioral issues are blamed on ADHD, even when it's ridicilously (spelled wrong) obvious that it's far more than ADHD. Most people don't even think of autism. Perhaps this teacher knows someone who's autistic. If the child is atypical in other ways, i'd certainly urge the parents to take her for an evaluation for ALL childhood disorders. I have to say, the hairpulling is a very strange symptom of something, especially since she isn't angry while she does it.
The other babies at his daycare used to fear going near him, because he would pull hair and bite so often, but even the daycare staff could tell it wasn't out of aggression or anger, so we all just worked on trying to teach him that he couldn't do it because it hurt others. He does it a little less these days, especially the biting, but just playing with him a moment ago, he was standing on my lap, leaned forward, hugged me, kissed my cheek once, came in like he was going to kiss me again, and tried to bite my face! A few minutes before that, playing on the floor, he had tried to bite my hand. Before that, my knee... Ugh... Strangely enough, he didn't try to pull my hair once, which is pretty rare.
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