My Son Wont Keep a Hat On

Try ear muffs, believe it or not, for some reason most special needs children do not like their heads to be pressed against and a hat does that to the entire head. Every one of the children in my neice's special needs group where ear muffs, they just cover the ears and most of them prefer to where the band around the back of the head kind of down on the neck. The teacher told me one day when I was fighting with my neice to put her hat on about all this and then I looked around and realized she was the only one with a hat on! She will wear those ear muffs until someone tells her to take them off and its so easy on her. Hope this helps

T.,

Have you tried a hat that ties under the chin? Also they have those hats with the velcro straps on them you can hook the straps over the top of the head or under the chin, maybe if you let him connect the velcro under his chin he would leave it alone? Just a thought, good luck!

Hi T., the other moms had great ideas.
Another idea might be for you and him to have a special trip to the store to let him pick out his very own hat, make a huge deal out of it. Praise him for his awesome choice. You can even sew extra trinkets on to it that are important to him. Perhaps if he gets to pick the hat out himself it will matter more to him.
But I know my child at that age hated hats too. Also you might want to have a duplicate of that hat in case the original one gets lost.
Good Luck.
M.

Maybe you could let him go and pick a hat our himself. Something he likes. My son has a Spongebob hat that he loves! He keeps it on, too.

Good luck! :)

I second Rebecca's response about modeling the behavior you want to see. When you take him out to the bus, you should wear a hat, too, and make a big deal out of it. I have a 2 year old with developmental delays, and last winter when he couldn't even walk or talk yet, he picked up from my husband that he had to have a jacket and hat on before he went outside. Daddy always wore a hat so my son never questioned it. He wanted to go outside so badly that he would do anything that was part of the routine of getting ready to go out.

This went on all summer - we finally broke him of having to have a jacket on, but he still wanted a hat. And now that it is cold again, he is back to a jacket and hat. He loves hats so much he usually even wears his hat in the car on the way to school / day care. He has his moments when he doesn't want it on and will throw a fit, but it is just him being a 2-year-old. We make sure that we are still the boss and he wears his hat if he needs it. Sometimes having a CHOICE of which hat helps. Present it like it isn't "hat or no hat", it is "the red hat or the blue one".

Good luck - loving school and the bus will hopefully be a good incentive. I know my son will do things for his physical therapist that he won't do for me, so maybe yours has a favorite teacher that he will want to impress by wearing a hat?

Hi T., Have you thought of trying a headband for him. My son would only wear headbands, he hated hats. He is 14 now, and never any more colds or illness than any other kids. Just don't give him a buzz cut on his hair.

If he gets cold, he'll keep it on. If not, make him come inside in very simple but unconditional terms...no hat, no play!

~L.

I also have a special needs son (two actually, my oldest has severe ADHD and sensory integration disorder, and my 2nd has Austism and global developmental delays)

The only advice I can give is to keep putting it back on. He will either give up, or get mad. You can also try Modeling Hat wearing wear one yourself and make a big HUGE deal about how warm your head is Not sure if your son will respond to that or not, one of mine did the other didn't.

my son wont either - its a typical child behaviour my girl was the same way!

I wouldn't worry about making him wear a hat. It is a myth that kids get sick from going out in the cold - they just get cold. I would try finding a really cool one for him, but if that doesn't work, just let him go without one for now.

Hi! I would first try the hats that tie under the chin. If that doesnt work maybe you can make a game out of the situation and get him a 'special' hat with 'special' powers or whatever would appeal to your little man. Good Luck!