When we work with children who find haircuts difficult, firstly, we talk to the parents to establish their child's experience of hair touch and cuts. When we meet the child for the first session, we play with a variety of toys, and during play we try hair touch, introducing brushes, combs and play scissors, making observations as we play.
There are two factors to therapy: 1) Sensory play for a sensory issue relating to hair touch and cuts or 2) Behaviour-orientated (with sensory) play. Of course, both go hand-in-hand as a sensory issue will lead to the avoidance behaviour, so we treat them together. Using sensory play, we focus of the responses the child has made during our play time observations.
So how can you play at home or school to help your child cope with hair touch and hair cuts?
Our objective is to help children cope by using therapeutic play which brings the enjoyable activities and the undesired activities (hair cut/brush) together.
Hair touch and Brushing:
1) Begin by using your hands, and then the back of the brush - introduce the bristles at a later stage. What you need to gain at first is confidence and trust.
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| overcoming fear and gaining confidence |
Introduce a routine of hair touch and brushing every day. It's a little easier (especially with boys) to leave the hair alone if your child hates having it done. But treat it like tooth brushing, once you do it every day it (hopefully) becomes a part of your routine that can be coped better with.
Have a play time brushing a dolls hair, teddy or your own/siblings hair. Use different brushes and combs if possible, and encourage your child to brush their own hair as much as possible. Have a distraction, such as TV or a dvd playing, so they have their hands free, but something to reduce the focus of the activity.
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| 'Snipping' play dough |
Hair Cuts:
Once you have achieved brushing, introduce play scissors. We use the word 'snip' instead of 'cut' - and play with a range of sensory play activities.
2) Play Dough snipping - make or buy play dough, use scissors to snip the animal or head shapes that 'grow' hair when pushed through.
3) Rainbow Spaghetti - boil spaghetti, then rinse and add food colouring and a little cooking oil. Use or mix different colours and then introduce the play scissors.
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| Make Rainbow Spaghetti |
4) Paper Plate Heads - draw faces on paper plates and leave space for hair on top. Add googly eyes and color them in adding wool or just snip away at the top of the plate to create hair. Then snip away at the hair and talk about hair dressers.
5) Head Massage - try a firm head massage to help with sensory issues - sometimes a firm massage can feel better than a light touch, and works towards de-sensitizing the scalp. You can try this just before having a hair cut.
In between the play activities, do some brushing/combing. For example: 3 minutes of play with whatever they want, and then 3 brushes - or as many repetitions with the brush as your child will tolerate. Give lots of praise, then back to play time for another 3 minutes.
Adjust the play time/hair time ratio to suit your child, and introduce rewards, stickers, bubbles, drink etc in between the two.
So, for example: 1) Play time for 3 mins then 2) Hair time for 1 min 3) Reward, and back to playtime again.
Remember, the hairdresser will use a comb, so try to introduce one. Practise combing hair in different directions, and hold your child's hair between your fingers as if you are a hair dresser. All of these actions will help your child feel more comfortable in the salon.
For more advice, you can contact Claire at: info@hometrain.ie
Or visit www.hometrain.ie to find out about our Social Skills Groups.
