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Clothing and sensory issues
Sensory-related differences can present our Daisies with a number of challenges in their everyday lives. Here are a few tips and links from parents in our community to help ease the way.
Neurodivergent people often get to see, hear, feel and taste things more intensely. They are not imagining it, and they're not over-sensitive.
This can feel beautiful, but it can get overwhelming if her senses have to take in too much at once. Sometimes this can add up to cause a meltdown, shutdown or sensory anxiety.
General support and advice
The local Occupational Therapy Team is a very good place to start if you need general advice relating to sensory difficulties.
There are two ways to contact them:
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Sensory Helpline, open on Thursday mornings from 8:00am – 9:30am. They will then call you back to offer advice: 07971 035385
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OT and Physio Triage Advice Line, open on Thursdays 9:00am – 12:00. They will advise over the phone or if is more complex, may put you on the waiting list for an in-person appointment: 07917 393196
If more is needed, you can refer through the Single Point of Entry form – information and what is required is detailed on their website.
Touch
Clothing-related issues
One of the most common subjects of discussion in our Facebook group is around clothing. Tags, seams and fabric textures can all be very difficult for our Daisies to cope with, and our parents have shared some great tips:
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“Highly recommend trying [OT helpline], my daughter wouldn’t wear clothes and [OT] showed us brushing techniques to help prepare her skin for clothes. It’s all done to my daughter’s way, we start with teddy fleece material and brush it over her skin, she chooses what she wants next and if nothing is wanted then she just doesn’t get dressed.”
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“We also found that Alexa telling her the weather for the day helps with clothing choices and we have a rule about covering our skin according to the temp, if sunny with sun cream and if cold with clothes.”
Socks and tights
Socks can be a problem for our girls, especially the seam across the toes. Sizing up can help, as can finding seamless socks (see our links below!)
Here’s what our community had to say about tights:
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“Footless tights with socks may be worth a try as they are a little more like wearing leggings.”
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“I gave up on tights for my daughter years ago and she wears leggings and socks instead. We have zero problems now. That was the only solution I could find to her hating the tights I kept trying!”
School uniform advice from our community:
As well as recommendations for specific unform items listed below, our parents mentioned speaking to the school SENCo to discuss ‘reasonable adjustments’ to the uniform if required, especially if wearing the uniform might be a barrier to their Daisy’s attendance. Some families also mentioned having it written into their Daisy’s EHCP, or having an Occupational Therapist report explaining her sensory sensitivities in relation to clothing.
Examples of ‘reasonable adjustments’ from our community included:
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Wearing her uniform with top button undone and tie loosely tied.
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In primary … black Asda joggers, polo top and trainers, school accepted these as a reasonable adjustments with no issues.
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Making small adjustments to uniform “(being allowed not to wear socks has been amazing for us, it really did come down to socks or school but luckily school have been very supportive (as they should be).”
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Allowed to wear plimpsolls without socks every day
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"My daughter wears grey jersey trousers which feel like leggings but look a bit more like the uniform trousers. She wears her shirt untucked as tucking it in feels too scratchy on her skin. This has been accepted as a reasonable adjustment and she has a uniform pass to show (the very many!) teachers stopping her asking her about her uniform."
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"Next do grey boot cut trousers made out of thick leggings material. It's the only thing my daughter will wear."
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"My daughter struggled with standard uniform and now wears jumper and grey leggings. This was agreed by her school as a reasonable adjustment."
School shirts / blouses:
Advice from our community included washing the shirts multiple times to make them softer, buying ones from an adaptive range that have Velcro instead of buttons, going up a size, or wearing a Lycra vest underneath. Stores are listed below.
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“…my daisy [wore a Lycra vest underneath her shirt] until the M&S shirts softened up a bit.”
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“We spent ages looking and ended up with George women's [blouses] - they have stretch in them short sleeved. They have been amazing. We use top button extenders so they are a bit looser around her neck.”
Pants / Knickers:
Underwear can be uncomfortable for our Daisies – especially with seams in. One of our community recommends getting pants in a bigger size to make it a less constricting experience. Others have mentioned getting their Daisies to wear period pants – partly as a preparation for menstruation, but with the added benefit that period pants are often seam-free.
“My daisy had a sudden dislike to pants she had chosen.. Several packs styles she had been wearing became intolerable to her for no reason she could articulate ( i think probably increased stress levels) she now wears seamless we started with sainsburys which are her go to now but has also slowly accepted seamless styles from other places. If particularly sensitive / stressed she still looks for sainsburys seamless in her drawers. She not long after that also really began struggling with tshirts and polo's etc which remains an ongoing challenge but think stress really increases her sensitivity.”
Coping with heat:
Heat can be challenging for neurodivergent people due to differences in interoception – the internal sense of what is going on inside the body. This can make it difficult to know when they are too hot and make adjustments to their clothing or environment as needed.
One parent’s suggestion for school:
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A small insulated bag with ice blocks
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A frozen bottle of water
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A small reusable soft gel pack (frozen) to place on wrists. You can get lots of different types that wrap around certain places etc.
Sound
Ear defenders or earplugs can be essential for neurodivergent people to help to combat hearing sensitivity. For some, loud noises can cause actual physical pain and distress, and can contribute to sensory anxiety. Being able to turn the volume down can be essential not only for combatting stress and overwhelm, but also for making it more possible to concentrate and be engaged in lessons and activities.
For those with auditory processing difficulties which create problems in understanding speech, using ear plugs or other aids to block out some of the background noise can really help them to understand what people are saying to them.
Our community recommended a few different types of headphones, ear defenders and ear plugs, which are listed below.
Taste, smell and texture - Food difficulties
Sensitivity to food smells, tastes and textures can make meal times stressful and difficult for our Daisies. In some cases, following traditional advice about family meal times and all eating the same food can make things worse. There is some helpful advice out there, but much of it refers to ‘Picky Eating’, which implies that the child is choosing to have difficulties with food.
Here is some advice from our community about helping Daisies who have a limited food range:
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“The things that the OT recommended that worked for us included not plating up her food - we always have the food in the centre of the table and she helps herself to a little bit/one type of food at a time.
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Having a side plate for foods which she could “finger” so she knew how it would feel before going into her mouth.
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Always having “safe” foods and something “not safe” on the table without any pressure to try it.
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Be prepared to find that she likes really unexpected foods.
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Get her to start cutting veg etc to practise motor skills. This can lead to an interest in cooking and knowing what is in the food helps too.”
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“My daughter has traits of ARFID, and it can be very stressful for her to try to eat new or unfamiliar foods. We find that it is best to lower the pressure and not keep pushing new things on her. She also finds it hard to eat new foods if they are anywhere near the ones she normally eats - so we usually use a separate plate or bowl. I allow her to investigate but not necessarily eat the new thing - she can touch, smell or look at it without expectation of her eating it. Sometimes that actually makes it easier for her to try it. I joined a Facebook group that you might find helpful called ARFID support for parents & carers in the UK/Ireland. The parents in there are very supportive.”
Products and websites our community loves:
Clothing:
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Sensory-friendly clothing (various):
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Mountain Warehouse (search on site for ‘seam-free’)
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Seam-free socks:
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M & S (search on site for 'seamless’)
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Tights:
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Manzi tights (Amazon)
School uniform:
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Blouses and shirts
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Trousers and leggings
Ear defenders and headphones:
Advice about sensory issues relating to food:
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Bristol Autism Support – Food and the Senses
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Food Refusal and Avoidant Eating in Children, including those with Autism Spectrum Conditions: A Practical Guide for Parents and Professionals – by Gillian Harris and Elizabeth Shea – available on Amazon
A big thankyou to all our parent/carer community for all your contributions!
Join our community: Our private Facebook group is for sharing tips and to connect – it’s for parents or carers of neurodivergent girls or gender non-conforming young people in south west England.
Do you have any comments or suggestions to add? Please email hello@neondaisy.org.uk and we’ll keep updating this page!
These products are recommended by our community, but products are not affiliated with or recommended by NeonDaisy at all. Please see our disclaimer here.