Dental Hygiene Life Skill & Social Story
The next life skill I wanted to work on with my daughter was brushing teeth and oral hygiene in general. My daughter seems to be struggling with that at the moment, even though she hasn't in the past. I know she's not the only autistic to have trouble with it, so I wanted to do a social story to go along with it. I already have a going to the dentist social story, but I wanted to make a dental hygiene at home specific social story.
Dental Hygiene Life Skill & Social Story | Social Story
Let's talk about the dental hygiene social story first. I know that a lot of kids who are autistic and neurodivergent in general have a hard time with brushing their teeth. This is actually something my seven year old autistic daughter has not struggled with until recently, specifically when she started losing her baby teeth. When she had all of her baby teeth, she was really good about letting us brush her teeth and every dentist visit we had has been really easy. We've actually noticed she's had a more difficult time losing those baby teeth than she did getting them as an infant. When she was an infant, her baby teeth just popped up. She didn't have any of the "typical" teething signs as an infant like fever, runny nose, diarrhea or fussiness. The only way we knew she had teeth was when I could see them pop up in her mouth. She also got teeth very early. She started getting her first teeth when she was four months old and then just continued to get teeth very quickly after that and had almost all of her teeth at the age of one and quickly had her molars after that. We, as first time parents, thought we were just great at parenting, but of course it had nothing to do with us.
Even though she didn't struggle as an infant, my daughter really has struggled with losing those baby teeth. I think she's more sensitive to the pain in her mouth and it's very intense sensory input for her. When a tooth is loose, it can be very difficult. She really doesn't like us to try and pull a loose tooth out or mess with them at all. She's also really struggled with the concept of losing baby teeth and then getting adult teeth. I think having the whole process spelled out for her in a social story will be really beneficial for her. It explains that while she does lose her baby teeth, she's going to get new teeth and she will have a full mouth of teeth as long as she takes care of them by the end of this process. We've also noticed it's been painful for her to get the adult teeth in so addressing that important to me in this social story.
Similar to the other social stories I have done here in Argentina, I got a folder I found at one of our local stores and used the 10 provided plastic sheets for each page. This is definitely one of the more durable ways I have done social stories. I feel like these are going to last a little bit longer than the ones I have made at home. Like with all of my social stories, I try to be as inclusive and neuro-affirming as possible. You're going to see a wide variety of people along with disabilities included in the social story. This story is supplemental to the Going to the Dentist social story I already have. At the end of the story, I talk about if they're going to go to the dentist their grownup will help them prepare for that. So if you are going to be taking a child to the dentist soon, that would be a great story to go along with this one.
Dental Hygiene Life Skill & Social Story | Life Skill
Let's address the life skill of brushing and flossing your teeth. For the Taking a Bath life skill I blew up the images and words so it could be seen from farther away (while in the shower). For the Dental Hygiene life skill I kept them small, since they should be relatively close to you while you're brushing your teeth. There is also the option of doing this skill as a flip book if that's something you think your child will benefit from instead. I wanted there to be an image for each one of these steps, just because I feel like there are some people that are more visual learners, but there is also a version that just lists the steps if you don't need the visual as much.
I tried to break this down into all the different steps required for brushing and flossing including things like throwing out the floss. I specifically talked about using floss picks as opposed to traditional string floss because my daughter finds picks a lot easier and I feel like they're just more accessible in general for neurodivergent people, especially autistic people. My autistic older brother recently told me about a toothbrush that is really awesome that he thinks would work really well for my daughter. You actually put it in your mouth and it brushes for you. I know that the kid version of it has different animals to choose from and sings a song so you know how long to keep it in your mouth. I will be trying that for my daughter when we get back from Argentina, I'm actually kind of excited about it! I have no affiliation with this company and we haven't personally tried it yet, so I can't give you an opinion, but I can tell that it has been recommended. I will link it below if you want to give it a try for yourself!
If I was at home, I would have laminated all of the steps individually and then put them on the wall, but I ended up putting them in page protectors to hang on the wall. I had eight in total and put them up where the kids brush their teeth. I come in here and I brush their teeth with them every day since the baby can't brush his own teeth and I can supervise and help my daughter when needed. Once I got all the steps on the wall, questioned whether I should have turned it into a little flip book. I asked my daughter for her input, but she liked it as it was so its staying.
You can find this life skill along with the dental hygiene social story in the shop. I have also created a bundle with all of the dentist/teeth related downloads I have if you want to get them all together. These social stories/life skills are working so well for my daughter so I hope they will be able to help you or someone in your life too!
