Anxious and overwhelmed to the point of meltdowns at the thought of hearing the buzzing of the clippers or the snipping of the scissors, 13-year-old Blaize Driggers resisted a haircut for over two years. Blaize, who was previously diagnosed with autism, has a difficult time with noises and other sensory stimulation, which leads to fear of occurrences others would hardly notice.
According to medical professionals, many children with autism have sensory processing disorders, a condition in which the brain has trouble receiving and responding to information that comes in through the senses. For Blaize, this haircut took weeks of preparation and overcoming a major fear.
“To us it’s our normal everyday things that we hear. For Blaize loud noises such as thunderstorms and large crowds at public places such as Walmart can really irritate him,” explained Malinda Driggers, Blaize’s mother. “His fear of a haircut started with a bad experience at one of the hair salons with the clippers. Since then he would throw fits and have big major meltdowns. It just scares him.”
Blaize’s therapist, Teresa Clark at Wendell Foster introduced Blaize to Renee Pullin a local stylist at Ulta Beauty.
“I’m not going to lie I was nervous. I just didn’t want to mess up and I truly wanted him to have a good experience,” Pullin said. “We FaceTimed the week before so that he could kind of get more acquainted. We didn’t want to bombard him with both something and someone new the day of his haircut.”
Wendell Foster therapists use unique approaches when serving individuals. With the team’s help, Blaize was able to conquer his fear and even smiled while getting his haircut.
“Renee was great. She went through the process of showing him which tool did what and then when she met him in person, she demonstrated on herself by using the clippers on her hand and arm to show that it didn’t hurt,” Malinda said. “She then demonstrated on Blaize’s arm and then proceeded into the haircut. They were going to work on Blaize’s time and with breaks if he had any meltdowns, but it was actually done in no time.”
Prior to his appointment, Clark encouraged him to bring a preferred activity to the appointment as a distraction, if needed. It was that preferred activity that Blaize and Pullin connected over.
“I simply wanted him to know what to expect and exactly what I was going to do. I think the fact that he knew what I was going to do step by step reassured him that nothing was going to surprise him and nothing was going to hurt him,” Pullin said. “We both have a strange kinship over very interesting videos on YouTube. I got his humor and we just kind of bonded over that same sense of humor, which maybe made him a little more relaxed and the process a bit easier.”
Blaize told Pullin about his current obsession, ‘weather radios’ and their conversations took his mind off the haircut.
“He melted my heart,” Pullin said. “We all have fears. Blaize can really teach that lesson of overcoming fears to a lot of people. I definitely learned something that day. I was just so impressed with him overcoming this fear. He’s an incredible kid.”
