Overcoming bathroom fears

When Cynthia’s foster child first came to live with her he had lots of bathroom fears that he had to overcome. In this instalment of her blog posts she will discuss how she helped him to overcome them.

My foster child’s oral and hygiene practices were next to nothing when he first moved in. He had very bad teeth and skin, also didn’t like skin to be touched and resisted having any kind of hygiene support. At bathtime he would squirm and scream if water and soap touched his skin.

Getting to the bathroom and into the bath was a challenge in itself. Running water from taps and thoughts of creatures in the bathroom would act as triggers for lashing out and displays of challenging behaviours in form of tantrums. This included throwing bathroom equipment into the toilet, soaking the floor in water, and generally causing any kind of mayhem possible.

In helping him to overcome his fear. I kept the bathroom routine consistent, made sure that water in the bath was kept to a minimum, locked taps off and have the bathroom ready prior to him entering, with equipment packed away and closed windows to block out clicking sounds and avoid toothbrushes being chucked out of window. He would regularly shadow me in how to use a toothbrush to ensure good brushing of teeth.

When more confident I encouraged him to turn bath taps on to listen to the sound of running water and he was able to describe the sounds he was hearing. At the onset of challenging behaviour I would leave the bathroom immediately and ignore as much as possible, waiting outside bathroom door until in a calmer mood.

He has now overcome the issues of using the bathroom and now looks forward to having a daily shower or bath.