Teethbrushing

So this is something we've been working on for about a week now.  Reading through some of my resources, it seems that dental care gets lost along the way.  There are so many therapies and so many goals on the "to do" list, it doesn't seem worth a battle to get a toothbrush in a kids mouth.  Trust me, for some kids this is a big issue.  Some kids can have such a horrible oral aversion, that the teeth brushing thing is more than anyone can handle.

Nea's had a toothbrush since she was 9 months old.  I wanted to start with her just getting used to having a toothbrush in her mouth.  I let her explore with it, play with it and essentially handle it as much as she wanted.  I was trying to desensitize her to it, so it wouldn't always be regarded as a "foreign object" and just piss her off.

I tried to make teeth brushing a pleasant experience.
However, as time has gone on the teeth brushing thing became more and more of an issue.  Until essentially she wanted nothing to do with it.

That doesn't work very well, because now she's eating big person food and Grandma gives you marshmallows for breakfast at her house!  I was a little baffled as to how to move through this teeth brushing thing.

Now that I understand that this may have been a sensory issue for Nea, I talked to her therapists.  They had great ideas for me!  The first one was to get her an electronic toothbrush.  I would have never thought of this on my own.  I would have never bought one of these brushes for Nea at 2 years old!  But if we remember that Nea requires LOTS of sensory information to process it, a vibrating toothbrush makes a whole lotta sense.  I wonder what the regular toothbrush felt like?  An annoying fly?  Tiny pinpricks?  Who knows.

Now that I figured out which brush, I needed to recreate the habit for her and essentially start all over with this toothbrush thing.  It was also time to switch to a fluoride toothpaste now that she's 2 AND introduce the whole swish and spit thing... ..... good grief my head was spinning!  (yes, I know, I did it to myself!)

For a few days I have been putting a hair scrunchie on her arm about 5 min before teeth brushing (with the vibrating toothbrush) and that seemed to go over fairly well.  TAP suggested standing behind her, and allowing her to see in a mirror.  All of these things I incorporated, and overall I was pleased.

Today, I did something a little different and actually held on to her.  I just gave her a big hug while we brushed teeth.   We didn't make it a full 2 minutes ( I wasn't tempting fate!), but she did better than she ever has!

She's hesitant at first.  Notice that I'm not restraining her.  I'm just hugging her.  She could get her arms out if she wanted, or she could even get down.  So it's a firm hug, not restraining.  Ha...it's funny even as I type it!  And of course, a friend always helps.  In this case, it's Tigger.

This is great mouth opening!  She's watching herself in the mirror the whole time.  I even had a few smiles

I was alright with scowls, but we just kept working and she would open her mouth right back up.  

The swish and spit is a new skill as well.  The swish part isn't that great....but the spit part is coming along just fine!  (hahah)

Some of you may be reading this thinking, "What the heck??  Why are we hearing about a teethbrushing session??"  Well, you are reading this because I thought it was important to share....in case another parent of a child with autism is looking for information.

Sharing information and tips is important for parents!