We had a MAJOR breakthrough today concerning little tornado boy's Sensory Processing Disorder and haircuts! We tried getting his hair cut at a salon when he was a weenie little one and it was a nightmare. The memories are all still there in my head....screaming, crying...complete fight or flight mode while daddy tried to hold him on his lap in the hair chair and all of us in tears at the end. After 2-3 attempts like this, we said enough because we didn't want to traumatize him anymore. So....I became his hair dresser...yes, hahahahahaha is all I can say! Haircuts happened in the bathtub with me doing a total song and dance to keep him occupied while I did a snip here and a snip there. By the time I was done, I was exhausted but his hair was cut (for the most part). His hair was always pretty straight but FAR from looking professional.
For the past several months I kept pointing out that there was a new place called Snip-its down the road where he could play games while they cut his hair because lately the little hairs around his ears have been really bugging him. He was interested but not enough to convince him to try it. His love of the past month is his new DS system and he asked me the other day that if he tried getting his hair cut at the "new place" could he earn a new DS game. I agreed a million percent and today we ventured in to get his hair cut. There were a few slight stressful moments when she pulled out the electric razor tool to get around his ears and I just held his hands. The lady asked how he wanted it cut and he said he wanted to look like daddy. Daddy has short on the sides and then spikey in the front (and he frosts his spikes- but we are not ready for that yet!) Then he found out that he could put color on his hair and that was all he needed to hear to finish out the cut. He was thrilled with the gel that was put in to make his hair "pointy" and then the blue streaks were the icing on the cake. As we walked out the door he yelled, "I want to do that again and next time I am getting orange streaks". He was SO proud walking around showing off his hair for the rest of the afternoon.
Another SPD battle finally fought and WON!
Very nice blog.. what a cutie pie! I love the Tornado cake.. you hit it right on.. they sure are little tornado's are they not? Does your son love them as much as my 8 year old? He is obsessed with them... wondering if your son was diagnosed with Asperger's, or high functioning autism? I LOVE the idea of unschooling.. Love it. It really doesn't work so well with SPD kids,(school I mean), unless you get an awesome teacher who will incorporate SPD learning in the class. My 8 year old is struggling with noise, bright lights, etc.. he is gifted as well, and struggles on a daily basis with not only sensory issues, but social functioning.. I love him to death. Aren't they great kids?
ReplyDeleteMy little guy would watch Tornado Chasers on the Discovery Channel every day if he could! He has told us that when he gets older his plan is to be a tornado chaser during storm season and then in the off season he will be a demolitions expert. We have been to several doctors and each one has stated that he is not on the autistic scale or Aspergers but that he is highly gifted. They have shared that there is a lot of research out there showing that some highly gifted children tend to have SPD to varying degrees. There are some days that are very challenging but I wouldn't have it any other way!
ReplyDeletehello i love your tornado cake... its massive lol.... can you tell me how you did it i really dont know how to decorate cakes but my son loves tornado and is asking for a tornado cake... His name is David and wishes his last name was Tornado...lol My son does have Autism... well hope to hear from you...
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