TACTILE DEFENSIVENESS

I have a 3 year old son with autism who has some tactile defensiveness. He has been having major meltdowns if we have to put a band aid on him. Is there anyone who has delt with this before or does anyone have any suggestions on trying to help me get him through this.

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Permalink Reply by Jaybird on August 7, 2009 at 3:08am: My daughter also won't let me put bandaids on so I use liquid bandaid. It comes in both a liquid and a spray. I recommend the spray.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by amy sentance on August 7, 2009 at 3:30am: Thank you.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jodi Quinn on August 8, 2009 at 7:22pm: We also have made this work by allowing my daughter to pick out the bandaids and only taking them off in the bath tub with water.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by amy sentance on August 9, 2009 at 8:54pm: Thank you.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Moira on September 7, 2009 at 11:36pm: Maybe this isn't the solution people want to hear... but my 10 year old son has pretty much never worn a band aid. I find that they usually aren't absolutely necessary and he will not tolerate them.
Best of luck.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shelly Just on September 8, 2009 at 6:29am: I wish I did, Amy. I have a 7 yr old with the same issue. Last week she had to spend a night in ICU. They had to put EKG patches all over her chest and tummy. She was knocked out when they did it but when she woke up it was a real ordeal. I thought I would never get them off of her. She was terrifed of band-aids until about a year ago. She's gotten better but she still avoids them if she can. Maybe your son will be able to tolerate them better in a year or two. The poster who suggested the liquid kind might be on to something.

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Permalink Reply by amy sentance on September 8, 2009 at 11:34pm: Thank you for your reply. I'm hoping he will be able to tolerate them. He is starting to get better with stickers. So hopefully band aids is the next step. I'm sorry about your daughter. I hope everything turns out ok. I can only imagine how difficult the EKG was. I had to take my son to the er about two weeks ago, and they tried to use the sticker device to obtain some vitals, and he wouldn't allow that. Hopefully our children won't have to endure any more testing for a while.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Patty K. on September 22, 2009 at 7:03pm: When my son was between2 & 3 he was really tactile defensive to sticky things, he hated stickers and he really hated band-aids. What helped was playing with stickers. It started with peeling them and sticking them on paper and then on himself. This was especially good because he was not hurt. Sometimes his oversensitivity to the wound made treating it very difficult & it still is but he got used to touching and placing sticky items on his body and if I need to I can use a band-aid. He still does not like them. If it is not bad we often go for the wash wound well & let the air at it approach.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michelle Weldy on September 23, 2009 at 9:11pm: Another thing that you could try would be using a brushing technique on your son's arm (soft brush that is stroked down the arm with enough pressure behind it to not be tickly, but also not hurt). It desensitizes the area a bit. Then you could let him practice putting stickers (and eventually band-aids) on his arm and letting him take them off, slowly (and with adult supervision). This is what worked with both of my children. Any time that I can make a game out of the activity, that really helps them be willing to try. Sometimes, if they don't want to do an activity with Mommy, they might be quite willing to try it if its presented by a different family member. That's just a quirk that we've noticed with our kiddos, hope that helps,...; ▶ Reply to This