Cutting Toenails!! !

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Hey Polly! I am new to this site, thus the reason for what seems like a late response to your question/concern. There is a wonderful book called "1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders" by Ellen Notbohm and Veronica Zysk. In their book they address everything from social skills to clipping toenails!

Some of the suggestions posted by others are actually used in their book for clipping toenails along with others:

Always clip after bath or shower when nails are soft.

If doing all ten fingers or toes at once is intolerable, do one a day in constant rotation as part of the general bedtime routine. Work up to two per day, etc.

Encourage the child to do it her/himself as early as possible.

Stabilze the finger over the edge of a hard surface such as a counter, table, book, or knee.

Have Dad or a sibling trim their nails at the same time. They can take turns.

Recite a favorite rhyme, poem or story and personalize it by using his/her name.

Try it while they are totally engrossed in the favorite TV show/movie.

The fine-paper side of an emery board may be more tolerable and has the added benefit of eliminating sharp snags. Keep up with it on an every-few-days basis.

When all else fails, do it while they are asleep. (Which I noticed you said you already do but maybe you'll have to continue with this until your child is a little older and able to tolerate it better. The last thing you want to do is cause your child to fear toenail clipping anymore than they already do.)

Search the internet for adaptive devices. Comfort Care Baby Nail Clippers by The First Years come with an attached magnifying glass (decreasing the chance of nipping tender skin) and large grippers for better control. LilNipper Clippers are plastic-encased clippers with a slot in the faceplate that the child slides his/her finger into, never actually seeing the clipping mechanism. Munchkin Saftey Nail Clipper has a plastic safety guard and a safety-grip ring underneath to slip your finger through, steadying the clipper.

Anywho, these are straight from the book I mentioned! It's a great book to own.

God bless you!

Hi all, thanks so much for your replies. I've ordered that book from Amazon so just waiting on that now. Still no joy with the cutting so I've decided to leave it for a bit and go back to doing them while he's asleep, until he can understand a bit better why they have to be cut. Again thanks so much for all your help, polly.

Yes, daughter hates this (she's 10!) & refuses to let anyone do it but me. As Dad once said he's not too good at cutting them she screams/cries/rages at hime until I take over.
Hates having hair brushed too will be tearful occasionally & always says makes her eyes water. Latest sensory issue is covering ears whilst buses/lorries pull away too.

Yes, daughter hates this (she's 10!) & refuses to let anyone do it but me. As Dad once said he's not too good at cutting them she screams/cries/rages at hime until I take over.
Hates having hair brushed too will be tearful occasionally & always says makes her eyes water. Latest sensory issue is covering ears whilst buses/lorries pull away too.

It will get easier. My son outgrew the nail clipping issue by six and the hair-cutting trauma at eight.

i used to hste having my toenails cut by my mum.. im not quite sure why now, looking back... but anyway when i went to grandma and grandads house a few times a year, my grandad would have me sit on the sofa and put my legs over his, then he cut my toenails instead, and i never had a problem with him doing it. in fact i started to like it!

as far as my hair brushing goes again i did not like that, because mum used to pull with the hairbrush, but then i started holding my head where she was brjushing and it stopped hurting.
last year i woe my hair quite long and i always got big knots in the back because i couldent reach properly to do it, so my hair is shoulder length now and i can take care of it better. i loearnt a trick t brush the lower half of my hair 1st, and once i did that goin over all of it and it didnt get tangled nearly as much. of course theres days where i forget to brush it but mum is usually around to remind me

Both my girls chew their fingernails, so I don't have to cut those. My oldest will chew her toe nails as well, so I *won't* cut them! The little one gets upset, but I've found a rubdown with her fave baby lotion makes her feel better before or after I have to do it.

Hair cutting - it's just been me doing that as small trims here and there. I never realized this was an AS issue! They dislike having their hair brushed too, that's a daily battle.

ah, yes...i have nail-biters too ! and haircuts ? oh boy...what fun!

Sit him down and explain to him in exact detail what you will be doing and that you will only cut each toe when he tells you he's ready for you to cut it (he must give you permission first).After all you wouldn't do this to an adult without getting their permission first either....

Like, tell him which toe you will do next, you'll cut from left to rigth (or other way), point with your finger where you'll cut, tell him you'll cut off exactly 1mm (for example). Then tell him to tell you when he is ready, and that you will not continue with other toes, untill he's ready for them too.
Maybe place the scissor or clipper on the nail but don't cut untill he says you can. Tell him you'll do it like this. And cut *slowly*.

If my mom had done that, I think, there would have been far less problems with me. For me it was the loss of control over the situation as well as the sensitivity. I also had major issues with her (or anybody) brushing my hair because she would do it too rapidly and not telling me what she was doing exactly and I had no control over it and it was sensitive and *painful* (especially bec my hair was in knots, probably bec it wasnt being combed too often).