1. Puberty, Hygiene and Sexuality
Adolescent Issues
Puberty, Hygiene and Sexuality
Chantal Sicile-Kira
USAAA Utah 2006

2. Overview of Presentation
Growth and Development
Hygiene and Health
Grooming, Dressing and Looking Good
Modesty, Privacy and Personal Safety
Sexuality
Resources for more information

3. 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
Risk of depression
Early onset of puberty in some

4. 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

5. Girls age of onset earlier
Boys age of onset at 11 or 12
What to expect
What to explain about body changes
Girls age of onset earlier

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Teach concept of modesty at home
Teaching to say or communicate ‘NO” in appropriate situations
Teaching to not touch own private areas in public

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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.

15. Remember : HOW you say it and teach it,
is just as important as WHAT you say and teach

16. 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

17. 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

18. Top 13 Things Parents Need to Know
about raising an adolescent on the autism spectrum

19. Books
Adolescents on the the Autism Spectrum (Penguin) by Chantal Sicile-Kira
Asperger’s Syndrome and Sexuality (JKP) by Isabelle Henault

20. Contact Info
Autism Making a Difference, Inc.
‘The Real World of Autism’
Tuesdays 1:30-2:00 EST
On Autism One Radio