Cutting Toenails!! !

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Hi all, was just wondering if anyone would have any ideas on how to get my 5 yr old son to let me cut his toenails? Have tried Social Story, even letting him see me cut my toenails, but he's not willing to let me cut his! Thanks in advance, Polly

not so sure about the nails, but my daughter hates the sensory stimulation from hair-brushing....if i let her chew on something while i'm brushing her hair, she reacts much better.

My son is 5 yrs old and has moderate autism and we do our best to make it into a game to distract him from it. Often it works. If you can provide them with a distraction that is highly motivating, it works pretty good I find.

I used to let my son watch something that he really liked, with songs so that we could sing and take his mind off it and that seemed to work. Hope you sort it out

oooooooooooooh....how are his fine motor skills? is it possible that you could teach him how to do this ( using hand over hand methods at first)? maybe if he had more of a sense of control over what's happening he'd feel better.....

Ohh my is this also a AS thing? we have the SAME problem with Vlad I do put on a favorite show for him and pretty much talk about what ever his "interest" is at the moment.

Have you tried cutting them after a bath when they are soft? Maybe that would help. Also if you are using a clipper you could try a small cuticle scissor.

Toe nails are nothing I like to cut, I'm weird with those also cutting fingernails.

Hi all, thank you for your replies, his fine motor skills aren't great but they're improving, tried the social stories again, tried the hand over hand, whilst talking about his favourite subject, Formula 1 drivers and cars! One minute he's ok and wants to do it but when I go to clip he starts screaming and shouting, I don't really want to put him off but I'm not sure what to do.

does he go to school yet ? i know that around here, with a note from home, the school nurse is allowed to cut students fingernails. what about having his pediatrician talk to him about grooming and self-care?

Hi ster, yes he's in school, he's in a special class in a primary school. They don't have a school nurse, his OT and teacher have both been talking to him about it but still no progress. I had been cutting them while he was asleep but I don't want to go back to doing that. I'm just afraid that i'll frighten him by persisting. polly

i understand about not wanting to frighten him....with my son, the more we push~the more he pushes back. ( figuratively speaking, of course). it's good to know that you are not the only one attacking this problem~ hopefully the OT and teacher can help come up with something that works.

I know this is a bit drastic and could be seen as somewhat abusive to some:

hog tie him to a chair
blinfold him and tape mouth shut

then again there is always valum if you dont mind a drugged kid for a while

Okay okay I have a demented mind here.

I dont mind hair brushing here. My only problem is I cant get my hands and arms to reach places and thoes places get very very knoted.

Yeah just a little bit drastic and inappropriate advice to give to a parent at least from my standpoint as an Aspie and as a parent.

Another thing you could do is a form of social story about nail clipping and provide a visual example of it while working with an OT on maybe it being a sensitivity to touch and maybe something like brushing and all would help some.

My 5 year-old has a lot of issues w/grooming. He doesn't like to have his head touched, so brushing, washing and cutting hair is a nightmare. Same with nails and trimming them. We've tried distraction (with a really cool toy or video he wants to see) and it does help sometimes. With the nail trimming sometimes we have to do one nail at a time, one day at a time. Obviously it takes longer but some days he's ok with us doing 2 or 3 at a time. The fear/discomfort is real enough, so I try not to push it, but I will say that it's gotten better with time. Still difficult, but better than it used to be. Good luck!

Try and not cut them so short as you typically would. To this day, I still hate the feeling I get when I cut my nails too short. I usually don't get near the part that's touching the skin...now that would be VERY painful, but even getting close always feels funny after trimming my nails. That may be what his discomfort is about. Leave a little more of the nail there when it comes time to trim them, and he may be a bit more comfortable with it.