Adolescent Issues

Puberty, Hygiene and

Sexuality
Chantal Sicile-Kira
2008
Overview of Presentation
Growth and Development
Hygiene and Health
Grooming, Dressing and Looking
Good
Modesty, Privacy and Personal
Safety
Sexuality
Resources for more information
Top 13 Things Parents
Need to Know
about raising an adolescent
on the autism spectrum
13. Teenage behavior cannot be blamed on
mercury
or the parents’ genetics.
12. Some teenagers care about smelling good.
Or not.
11. Some teenagers like order and neatness.
Or not.
10. Teenagers like to make their own choices.
Usually they are not the same as yours.
9. Teenagers learn self esteem at home
and school. Or not.
1. Teenagers do not develop good
organizational skills or self-care skills
through osmosis.
7. Moodiness and raging hormones is a
normal
6. teenage thing. is a needed life skill not
Self-regulation
practiced by teenagers.
5. Noncompliance is normal teenage
behavior.
4. So is whining.
3. Masturbation is normal, teenage
activity.
2. Learning about sex from known and
trusted
adults is not.
1. You will survive the teen years. Barely.
Growth and Development
Risk of Seizures for 1 in 4 teens on
the spectrum
Meltdowns or aggression may
increase in some, and decrease in
others
Physically mature at same rate as
peers, however emotionally less
mature
 Why puberty is hard
on ASD teens
Most do not like change, yet body is
changing and they cannot control it
Most do not pick up information by
osmosis from siblings or peers or
through sitting in Health classes in
school
They do not understand why they are
feeling different
They hear about sex from others but
may not understand
Boys age of onset at 11 or 12
What to expect
What to explain about body changes

Girls age of onset earlier

What to expect
What to explain about body changes
 Hygiene and Health
Hygiene needs to be addressed
and good habits to be developed
and emphasized
Explain WHY important (social
stories tailored to ability level)
Analyze problem areas in self-care
Task analysis
Functional behavior analysis
 Fix problem areas in self-care
routines
Desensitization of sensitive areas
Hand over hand for motor memory
Visual schedules
Verbal schedules
Use of different products
 Grooming, Dressing,
and Looking Good
Teach the teenager :
Importance of basic hygiene and
cleanliness
What matches and what doesn’t
What’s in and what’s not (get a peer
to help)
First impressions are crucial
 Teach Self Esteem
For child to feel he is worthy of
respect, he must feel self-esteem.
What you hear is what you
believe.
Dr. Emoto and water experiment
For a teen to understand he has
rights (including the right to be
safe and not be a victim, as well
as the right to say ‘no’), he must
feel he is worthwhile.
 Modesty, Privacy,
and Personal Safety

Teaching notion of privacy starts with

familiar adults and how they treat the
teen
Concept of privacy needs to be taught
and reinforced in all environments
Teach your teens to tell you if someone
has seen them naked or causes them to
be naked
Teach concept of modesty at home
Teaching to say or communicate
‘NO” in appropriate situations
Teaching to not touch own private
areas in public
Teach them it is never OK for an
adult to do certain things to them
Teach them to communicate if they
have been abused or mistreated
Masturbation
Natural activity that you may not
necessarily teach, but contain if it
occurs
You will be able to control where and
when, but you will not be able to stop
it
Home and school need to work
together on this if it is occurring
outside the home
Teen must be allowed a ‘private
place’ at home he can masturbate
May be necessary to teach male
how to masturbate if he is not
figuring it out on own and
becoming very frustrated and
aggressive due to this.
Relationship boundaries – different
relationships, different boundaries
:
Appropriate types of conversation
and behavior for each type of
various relationship
The notion of Circles:
Private circle
Hug circle
Far away hug circle
Handshake circle
Wave circle
Stranger circle
 Sexuality
Sexual feelings are natural
Some individuals on the spectrum want
intimacy and want to get married, others do
not
When they become adults, it will be up to
them to choose
Even if your teen is not interested in
relationships or the idea of marriage and
intimacy, it is important to teach them
about sex because they are at a higher risk
of getting abused.
 Remember :
HOW you say it and teach it,

is just as important as
WHAT you say and
teach
What to teach :
Sex education (the birds and the
bees)
About AIDs and other sexually
transmitted diseases
Appropriate behaviors from others
Appropriate behaviors towards others
Giving or withholding consent
Important for teen’s safety that he /
she should be able to identify places
on his/her body where it is
appropriate to be touched by others
they are not on an intimate
relationship with
Important that teen be able to tell
someone when he/she is touched in
an ‘off limits’ area of his /her body
 Chantal’s Books
Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum: A
Parent’s Guide to the Cognitive, Social,
Physical, and Transition Needs of Teenagers
with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Penguin)
Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Complete
Guide to Understanding Autism, Asperger’s
Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental
Disorders and other ASDs
ASA 2005 Outstanding Book of the Year
 NEW BOOK - October 2008

Autism Life Skills:

From Communication and Safety to Self
Esteem and More:
10 Essential Abilities Every Child
on the Spectrum Deserves and
Needs to Learn
(Penguin)
 Contact Info
Autism Making a Difference, Inc.

www.chantalsicile-kira.com
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