Teens, Learning Disabilities and Personal Hygiene

Moving from living life as a care free tween into the teenage years is hard enough on kids without having the added teasing of poor hygiene. Many tweens, especially those without older siblings, have little or no knowledge of proper personal hygiene. When teens seem to be having trouble with personal hygiene, the problem may be deeper than a parent thinks.

Personal hygiene, for most, is a second nature task. Good grooming and healthy body image are two tasks teens need to survive in a world of peer pressure and teen angst. For some teens, the lack of proper personal hygiene practices points to a learning disability.

If a child has trouble with visual discrimination, this problem may manifest itself with trouble matching clothing and coordinating colors, patterns and styles. For some teens, this lack of matching may be a personal choice, but for others, this symptom may point to a learning disability.

In children who have trouble gaging water temperature when showering or bathing, spatial perception may be lacking. Spatial perception is used in humans to maintain thoroughness in daily tasks, including many of the tasks used to complete good personal hygiene practices. A child with a learning disability may not recognize the link between the steam and the high heat of the water.

Teens who have learning disabilities pose a unique problem for parents. As the teen ages, the learning disability main manifest in other problems outside of school work and behavioral problems. The most common personal hygiene skills may require special attention depending on the severity of the learning disability.