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>> Hats, gloves & glasses <<
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Long socks, warm hands
Our son constantly removes gloves. He also chews them & he would bite them off if we sewed them to his coat or put them on a string. So now we use long socks which cover his arms and then put his coat over the top. They're much harder to remove, but he has space enough for his fingers to move.
Sew them on
Ayesha never leaves her mittens on in the cold weather, so I've sewn them on to to her jacket and now her hands always stay warm. For people who put their hands in their mouth you can sew on ski mittens – waterproof.
High five
Getting gloves - or even mittens - on can be a bit tricky with my son but if we encourage him to "high five" his hand automatically goes into the right position
Sock gloves
I can't put gloves on my son who has cerebral palsy as he clenches his hands. So we use socks - he loves the bright colours on his hands!
Staying on
We use sports straps to keep glasses in place - very useful for people who may try to pull them off. ...
Be a role model
Your child may be more likely to put on a hat, gloves, etc. if he sees family members consistently doing the same. You can also make a game of it. Try to make dressing for the cold weather fun by seeing who can get their coat, hat, and gloves on the quickest
Alternative head covers
Jamaal can’t bear to wear any hat under any circumstances. We can sometimes get him to wear a hoodie and have also been successful with a deep fleece ski type headband or a buff, but we don’t push it if he really doesn’t want to wear it.
Ear flaps
We just bought a Velcro ear flap winter hat and pulled the earflaps down under Zara’s chin and this tended to work for us.
Ear muffs
My son is severely autistic & can be very noise sensitive. Normally he won't wear ear muffs, but I've just bought him a pair from Primark. They are from young boys section age 7-13yrs, they are black soft fleece & more importantly very flat on the head. A bargain price of £1:50!
Be positive
We let Tracy choose her own frames and went overboard about how good she looks specially because we have no family role-models of glasses wearers. She is quite enjoying them.
Build up the comfort level
We started with a few minutes at a time wearing glasses when Erin’s hands were busy playing with a toy. We then built up the time when she was playing with toy or watching TV. As soon as she realised she could see better she kept them on.
Glasses for Down's syndrome
George has down’s syndrome. We found that glasses don’t fit the shape of his face well so we changed the 'bridge' to one long plastic piece which fits better.
Alternatives for comfort and to keep them on
It’s worth asking the optician what alternatives there are to ordinary frames. Some do goggles or sports type glasses with an elastic strap rather than arms or the sort of arms that have hooks behind the ears. Each individual person will react differently to each type so be patient and see which type can be tolerated and for how long. I have heard of soft contact lenses being prescribed under certain circumstances.
Students pay more attention......
We now go to a University eye clinic where final year optometry students are supervised and put through their paces. This has been well worth the extra time spent travelling as we get a longer examination which is supervised.
Fingerless fleece gloves
Persuading my son to wear gloves has always been a battle as most gloves are made of wool, which he doesn't like. It is also a visual impairment issue as a lot of his information comes through his fingers. The most success we have had has been with fingerless gloves made of fleece. This year I have bought two cheap pairs the same colour, so if we lose one we will still have a pair.
Puppet love
Rosie wouldn't keep gloves on so I bought her 2 glove puppets and she happily keeps them on.
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