Zipper on your jacket or coat done up all the way?

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My son has HFA and cannot tolerate wearing a coat or jacket or cardigan unless the zipper is done all the way up. Even if the zipper is half the way down he gets distressed. Anyone else relate to this?

Venus

My 9 year old son is the same way! He ALWAYS zips his zipper up to the top! I tell him he doesn't have to do that..but he always leaves it that way....

Tell him the zipper is supposed to go down EXACTLY 1/6th of the way down. That way, there's a very precise "right" answer on how far down it's supposed to go. None of this crazy "I dunno, zip it down just a bit" stuff.... I mean, how far down is "a bit"? I know when I was younger, this sorta thing would keep me up at night. o_O

It's even part of a larger rule. You NEVER button or zip all the way up to the top unless you're wearing a tie. The top button on a dress shirt is called the "idiot button" because only idiots button it. In Basic Training, I made the mistake of buttoning the idiot button on my field jacket. I was asked, "Why the @#$# is your idiot button buttoned?!" The answer was, of course... "Because I'm an idiot, sir!"

So yeah. It might be less about the zipper... and more because he doesn't have a solid RULE about why it's zipped down, or how much.

Last edited by tharn on 22 May 2008, 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm like that I want my shirt zipped up either exactly all the way or exactly 5cm from the top - all my sweatshirts/hoodies have marks on them for 5cm.

The biggest thing about zippers that my son cannot cope with is the zip not being done up at all. He cannot tolerate or cope with wearing something that has a zipper if the zipper is completely undone. This has lead to meltdowns which last until the zip is finally done up. With reference to what tharn says I don't think my son is flexible enough for a rule that says the zipper is allowed to not be done up at all. For whatever reason he feels that if the zipper is there it must be done up.

Venus

Hmm... maybe it's that zipper flopping around everywhere, all asymetrical on one side like that. If only they made some sort of "zipper lock" to secure it... perhaps a safety pin or some sort of metal clip. I find that for me, at least, it doesn't matter how silly or clunky the solution is, as long as there IS a solution. Or you could just get him a jacket with buttons, or have him just not wear a jacket if it'd be worn open anyway, if it's causing crises. Does he have any helpful input on the subject?

Or heck, why not just let him zip it up if he wants?

When I was a young child I would always insist that I had zippers on my jackets done up all the way. I can't even remember why this was, but I remember having arguements about it with my mother when she was saying the weather was too hot to have it all the way done up.

Now, zippers just annoy me (doing them up and undoing them is a hassle, and they always seem to get jammed!) and I prefer to wear things without them.

My 6 yo is this way. I don't think it has anything to do with sensory issues. I think it's just one of his many "rules". He could be sweating to death, and he'd never allow the zipper to budge from the all the way up position. lol Not only that, but he inspects to see that everyone else has theirs done up, too.

For one thing.....so? Let him have it zipped up all the way or don't buy cloths with zippers. As far as to the sensory issue....if you have sensitive skin,try rubbing the zipper against it...it's like barbed wire and when you turn your head it will scratch you. That doesn't happen if it is zipped all the way up because all the "barbs" are connected to each other.

Just to illustrate that not all aspies are the same(duh, I know you all know that but incase an "expert" is reading this and wants to start DXing kids autistic who zip their coats up all the way:D ). I can't stand anything around my neck. I use to even cut the whole collar out of my T-shirts (also the sleeves on them because I didn't like my arm pits covered either..very sensitive area)and the bottom off of them if I had to tuck them in.


So, before people totally rule out sensory issues. Some aspies like extra pressure and sensory input because it makes them feel more secure and "in their bodies" they need the feed-back, some prefer little to no stimulation because it is destracting or painful and some have no reaction to the same stimula in that body part but might in another area. Now just for fun...it can change over time. I have gotten desensitized to many things just because I'm old an most oldsters become less sensitive(good bye,dying neurons, you wont be missed).

re...zip all way to top.
maybe it could be a routine thing for them,because theyre used to having it that way it could have become a part of their routine,
then again it depends on how they are with routine.

I didn't know zippers weren't supposed to be zipped all the way up. When I was a kid I always had them zipped all the way to the top. Then until my teens, I started to not have them zipped all the way up because I no longer like having the feeling of the zipper being so close to my neck. I feel more comfortable with more space around my neck. Maybe that's why some people don't zip their coats or shirts up all the way?

I have seen other people with their zippers zipped all the way to the top. I first noticed it in 5th grade when I saw 101 Dalmatians and Anita was wearing a blue shirt with a zipper on it and she didn't have it zipped up all the way. I couldn't figure out why until I started doing it so I figured the character must have the same reason as me.

At least it's better than hating zippers. I couldn't stand to have them near my face or neck for a long time, because when I was a kid my mother caught the skin on my neck in a zipper. Pinched it hard enough that it drew blood. Wow did that hurt . I wonder if there's such a thing as zipper-phobia.

I'm a bit like that, I actually prefer wearing a tie because of it.

haha. I am totally like that. I rarely wear a jacket or a zip sweatshirt unless it is zipped.

That's an interesting observation; some of my body-garment issues make more sense now.

I can go about with my zippered things undone to some extent, though having bits of my clothing waving around can get VERY annoying VERY quickly. It is usually only for hot weather that I do that anyway.


As for having the zipper all the way up, it depends on my mood. I'm more psychologically comfortable with the zipper done up to the top (I don't like my neck showing) but I'm more physically comfortable with it undone down to my collar-bone (so that revolting man-lump on my neck isn't being painfully constricted).
I tend to alternate depending on my mood and / or surrounding temperature.

I swear... except for my work shirt, I will tend to play bizarre games with buttoned shirts. Like sometimes I'll have them all buttoned up, other times ALL unbuttoned (including the cuffs of the sleeves). Sometimes I'll do up every other button... or leave one or two open at the top and bottom.
On at least one occasion the ONLY button I had done up was your so-called "idiot button".... just for the sake of being different. I went around with the rest of the shirt draping open, but clasped quite tightly around my neck.

Just the way I am, I guess.