Student's hygiene?

My first question to the teacher would be if he/she has had the initial conversation with the parents? Whoever has the first hand information needs to take the first step.

When I have situations like this come up, I usually start by sending out a mass school letter about hygiene in general. Usually its grades k-3. The flyer touches on the basics like taking a bath at night, washing feet, trimming finger nails, washing hair and wearing clean clothes. Most of the time, the parent gets the hint and we see an improvement.

I never know why this falls to the nurse, but truthfully, if the teacher is that uncomfortable doing it, I would rather just do it.

I have older kids, so I tell them first and then I tell the parents.

It sucks, but I would rather it be me than any kid or teacher that will be more embarrassed than the student.

The little kids? I like loveschoolnursing's idea.

If you can get the teacher onboard, have you considered a sort of reward system to motivate the kid to look after himself? Something simple like stickers or a scoreboard. At the end of the month, if the kid has showed up mostly clean (with undergarments - I can't believe he's going to school commando ), a special reward is given. Doesn't have to be something expensive, either. Perhaps a book he'd be interested in reading, or a simple toy...

As long as it is kept between the kid and said teacher (so you don't have a horde of kids demanding the same thing), it might work. Better yet, now you have someone on the inside (so to speak) who'll put pressure on mommy/daddy to actually make sure this stuff happens.

But perhaps a call home would get things going on the right path...

Dany

No, not for me and the older kids.

I have 750 of them.

It's up to the kid and his/her parents.

Some kids don't want to wash. It may be diet related, cultural or behavioral, but beyond my initial intervention it is out of my hands.

The cat pee kid that we recently discussed was a different story than basic BO.

I'm not giving a reward for washing. If the teacher wants to pursue it after my initial intervention she/he can be my guest.

I know that there is a thread somewhere but I need help. I have a student who is in 2nd grade and his hygiene is very poor. On a normal day is very unkempt, has a slight smell of BO, and never has underwear and socks on. Last year it was an issue too. He has a sister who is a year older and doesn't have a problem with hygiene. Teacher wanted to talk to me about the issue because the student is basically being excluded by other students due to the odor. How do I go about this? What is a good plan of action? I know I have to talk to the parents but should I also include the social worker too?

He's in the second grade, so he's about 7 years old?... although he has a sister who appears to be cared for, it doesn't mean there may not be an issue there. It could be so many things. He could be neglected or have emotional issues... When I used to be a teacher's assistant for a kindergarten class, I once had a student who just went through a difficult phase of asserting himself and not wanting to bathe... he grew out of it. I'd say start with the parents. This is really the teacher's job, but if you don't mind you could request an interview with the parents and maybe troubleshoot ways that you might be able to offer help.

Oh, I missed the underwear. Yikes. How do they know that?

Oh, I missed the underwear. Yikes. How do they know that?

I figured you'd catch up eventually, Far...

Pediatric Plumber's Crack, obviously...

Pediatric Plumber's Crack, obviously...

Hahahahahaha!!!

Seriously, this can be a very awkward problem, and end up giving the kid a rep that follows them for years. What I've done in the past is worked individually with the student on a "project" called the 4H- short for "Healthy Hygiene Habit Handbook". It's done on PowerPoint, with each page covering a hygiene practice. I come up with the text in conjunction with the student then we search for and add some appropriate clip art to the slide, e.g. a person washing their hair, pictures of deodorant, etc. Oh, having a title page with the student listed as an author is very important.

The student keeps a copy of each page/slide as we create it, and is assigned "homework" which is essentially practicing the action that we wrote about on the slide. The practices are cumulative, so by the time the handbook is done, you've covering everything from clean clothes to bathing, to oral care. It's collaborative, and the child gets a sense of accomplishment from creating a "book."