My autistic son cut his finger!

Do you guys use social stories at all with him? You could write him a social story that goes something like, "One time I cut my finger. The doctor gave me a bandage. The bandage kept the cut clean. The cut healed. Now, I do not have a cut on my finger! My finger is all better! I do not need a bandage any more." (Illustrate this with stick figures perhaps) Another idea would be to buy smaller and smaller bandages. When you buy the next smaller kind, hide the larger ones somewhere where he won't see them, and when he asks for a new bandaid, just matter-of-factly put the smaller one on him. After a while he will have the teeniest bandaid on his finger, and hopefully eventually he'll stop asking for them!

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I see you have found some advice that is liveable for you. I think that might have been my response, let him wear it. If it was a problem, like a latex allergy or with the skin getting all infected from the bandaid, I would have suggested you calling the emergency room and having a little "ceremony" of someone official--emt, nurse, remove the bandaid, and telling him it is all right now. That might have been what he needed, a proper authority, not just mom and dad.

I think what Sagemother says makes a lot of sense.

Have you tried substituting something else on the finger that isn't so obvious like staining his finger with food coloring, making sure you camouflage it in a medicinal looking bottle? It might be a way to wean him from using bandaids, which cost more. The stain will fade slowly and it might give him time to forget about his trauma. When you know htat you have tried everything, I suggest you stop giving in. A firm "no" might have to be your policy and he will have to throw the fit he wants to throw. I have seen autistic kids manipulate others quite effectively with displays of temper. Even if he is non-verbal, he can still have some consequences for his actions. YOu haven't said what age level his fucntion resembles but alot of times using the consequence that is compatible with his mental age is quite successful. Good Luck!

In the words of my Autistic son's techer .... 'if his anxiety is causing him to do this, it doesn't matter what rewards or consequences you offer, he can't change it'. My advice would be just to let this one go. Bandages are not that expensive, and it isn't really hurting him to have it there. He won't wear it forever, one day he will stop. I think if you just stop fighting him on it, he will relax about it a lot faster. That's what I'd do with my son, for what it's worth.