An unusual solution

This weekend I was reading a Facebook post about the difficulties involved with trimming your ASD child's fingernails or toenails and I had to laugh.  This was always a HUGE deal with Alan.  We tried everything.  Bribing him with Skittles, warning him, springing it on him as a surprise, sitting on him, doing it when he was asleep ... you name it.  It was always hideous.

About 4 years ago, Alan came up with his own solution to the matter.  OK, it wasn't pretty, it wasn't hygienic, but it was funny!  It also drove his brother crazy.  We sort of figured it for a temporary solution.  After all, while a 10 year old might be able to chew his toenails, not too many adults are capable of the same <ahem> "feat".


Little did we know that he would still be doing it all these years later.  OK, maybe chewing his toes at the kitchen table is more than a bit gross, but it is still functional.

Joe always leaves the room when he sees Alan start this.  Of course, Joe thinks nothing of trimming his own fingernails wherever and whenever it occurs to him.  "But I had a hangnail!" 

Maybe the boys can open their own nail salon.  After all, people pay lots of money for those fish that chew off your dead skin.  Maybe Alan will be in demand the same way.