Sensory and Clothing

One of our biggest struggles in the past was clothing. Seams, tags and shoes would drive my son nuts. Here are a few things I have done to help my son with his sensory clothing issues:

Tags: I cut out the tags off his clothes or layer his clothes with an undershirt, so he is not bothered by the tags. One amazing undershirt is called the “Compresso T” by Smart Knit Kids sold for $19.99. This shirt is seamless and provides input to your child throughout the day with its compression fit. They fit smaller children and are found online. If your child is school age, you can buy “Under Armor”, which is like the “Compresso T”.  It is also seamless and is a compression fit.

 

Socks: My son hates seams or stings with his socks. He is also very bothered if his socks do not stay in place. For a cheap fix to this problem, I simply turn his crew cut socks inside out. Another solution is to buy seamless socks. Smart Knit Kids also sells seamless socks that are also compression socks and provide input throughout the day. They are sold for about $8.00 a pair. If your child is school age, you can buy baseball socks (they are seamless). Nike also sells seamless socks.

 

Shoes: My son has eight pairs of shoes, and in the past, we would go through four shoes before he found the shoes that felt right that day. His shoes can’t be too loose or too tight, so I also have to play around a lot with the shoe laces to see what his too tight and too loose feel is that day. One thing that has helped with us not play the shoe game in the morning is shoe inserts. The inserts help provide the input he needs.

Making clothing one less struggle in the morning is my daily goal. These tips have helped me and my son work through this struggle. On most days now, he doesn’t struggle at all. I hope these ideas help your child overcome sensory issues with clothing too.