Subscribe Via RSSHoliday Giveaway: Soft Tees!
As this year draws to a close, I’m grateful for all of my readers and the wonderful people I’ve met. Soft Clothing is helping me to offer a holiday giveaway to readers of Aspie Teacher, so five – 5! – readers are going to win a Soft tee.
When I heard about Soft Clothing for All Children, I was intrigued. Jessica Ralli is a former special ed teacher with a great sense of style, and she’s created a line of clothing for those of us with SPD. The flat seams are specially sewn so nothing rubs against your skin, and tags are printed right onto the fabric so you won’t get that scratchy tag bothering you all day.
Jessica was nice enough to send me some shirts to try, and I loved them. The tees so far are sized for children, but the XXL will fit up to a women’s medium. I normally wear a women’s XS and the XXL was a loose fit on me. You can find more details about sizing here.
Upon browsing through the entire line, I can’t wait to order this tie-printed tee – it’s cute for grownups but also a great alternative to formalwear for squirmy little boys!
To enter the giveaway, leave a comment about how sensory challenges affect your life. Entries must be received by Dec 7 at 10 pm EST and 5 winners will be selected at random. Good luck!
18 Responses
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Thanks for the tees.
I especially love the XXL fitting as a women’s medium.
How sensory challenges affect my life:
I love to eat and drink. I can tell one strawberry (say) from another, and describe it really well.
I get lots of headaches from things I see or hear.
I saw the tweet for this and thought I would leave a note!
I think for our family, aside from regulation issues (and the little one’s refusal to eat anything but PB) the biggest sensory challenge we have is sound.
Although my boys are all affected with sensory issues, and my oldest has SPD, it is really our entire family that doesn’t like loud noise: automatic flushing toilets (awful!), too many voices (crowds, restaurants, etc), alarms (I HATE with a fierce passion the sound of my husband’s morning alarm–HATE it!), popping balloons, and more.
Wish I fit into Jessica’s clothing!
Hartley
hartleysboys.blogspot.com
These tees are a fabulous idea! I will throw my (daughter’s) hat into the ring.
How sensory issues have affected my life: My 6 y/o with ASD had such a strong aversion to light touch that she would push away and run and hide from hugs and cuddles. After years of OT, she loves hugs and kisses, and I love when she puts her head on my shoulder and holds my hand. I still laugh when she calls jeans “hard pants”, but at least she wears them now. For a little while, anyway.
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This is awesome Sandy! I am posting this on the Autism Women’s Network facebook page as well.
I continue to have serious sensory issues as an Aspie adult. I would LOVE clothing like this for myself!! Wonderful!
I’m entering on behalf of my 5 year old son (even though secretly i would love one) his biggest sensory problems lie with noise, he hates loud noises, or ones that startle him. but clothing is a big problem too. his wardrobe is full of clothing that just isn’t right!!! its either too hard, too rough, too tight, too scratchy, the label itches, too scary or any number of other problems. it would be lovely to find something that was soft and comfortable and that he would love.
I’m not entering, since I wouldn’t fit a children’s XXL, but I wanted to note that I’m betting my parents would have loved to have this when I was a kid, and I would love to have these kinds of clothes now. I have often dreamed about coming up with a clothing line that tailors to people with sensory issues.
But as a kid, my parents would often wash my clothes at least a couple times in order to get them soft. Mom actually sewed my clothes for three reasons 1) store clothes didn’t fit me 2) store clothes were not good enough quality and 3) store clothes were uncomfortable.
For things like dressy occasions and going to church, my parents got in the habit of carrying a spare set of play-clothes, for when I grew tired of being in the scratchy dresses.
Nowadays, I try to balance occasion with what I can handle at the time. For example, for a wedding in spring, I dressed in soft underthings, with a fairly comfortable dress, stockings and shoes. By the end of it, I was glad to be out of it, but it wasn’t a total sensory meltdown.
Sensory issues get harder in winter, when my skin dries out and gets itchy. Like right now, when I dress in the comfort of soft silk and fleece.
But yes, I would LOVE to see an adult line of sensory-soft clothing.
I suppose friends and family are ineligible for the giveaway
These really are wonderful shirts!
my son has autism and is 9 years old. he is large for his age and especially wide around the waist so i try to find “dressy” elastic waist pants and sweatpants with pockets and such for him to wear. 100 % cotton everything! i want him to be as comfortable as possible at school and just out in the community! His mom, me, is the same way! I live in my gym.workout pants! thank you so much!
I would so love to have this shirt! My 8 yo has issues with her clothing. We haven’t yet gotten a definite determination of sensory issues from anyone in official capacity but I know in my heart that’s what we deal with every morning. We have literally been doing battle every morning now for over 3 years. I wash clothes everyday because she only has a few clothes she will wear with minimum fuss. These clothes are all misshapen from being pulled and tugged or have seams that are coming out. I so want to try this shirt to see if I can get at least one days peace.
I came here via Twitter, as I have been interested in Soft Clothing even though I haven’t (yet!) gotten a chance to try it.
Sensory challenges have affected my life rather profoundly – I was a sensitive child (more food-reaction oriented) and my son is even more sensitive than I am (food, textures, sounds.)
As those who have commented here know, a sensory aversion can turn into what looks like a behavioral problem such that the “solution” is sensory in nature (like removing that pesky T-shirt tag!) rather than disciplinary in nature. So in my son’s case, his sensory difficulties have created plenty of situations where teachers / other parents / the public believe that he is a “bad kid.” Of course, this affects him deeply, and me, too, as the “failed” mother.
I’ve always had “issues” but having children of my own in a more informed age gives me added perspective.
We celebrate their Bionic noses that can sense metal or fruit 50 feet away, and other sensory “super powers”.
But clothing has been a challenge. I used to hound Goodwill and garage sales to find shirts that were already well-broken in and soft for my kiddo. It will be nice to be able to order new ones in favorite colors, always available and read to go!
Lately, The biggest challenge has been Clothing. It’s a Huge Battle getting him dressed for school in the Morning. He can’t stand to have his hair Brushed, Washed, Cut or Combed. He also has major Oral Sensory issues. Picky eater and he doesn’t like having his Teeth brushed!
Hey you!
You can toss me into the draw if you want, but I don’t really care. *laughing* I’m more here to comment, as I think the question and discussion is what’s important! Still, I’m wee so XXL. Nice and loose. Get it? Loose? Sensory? Okay. Maybe not funny.
Alright, what can I tell you and everyone else about my sensory issues! Hmmm… I think I’ll work through each sense, one at a time. That seems logical. I’ll try to keep things trim, as well. I might have a lot of things to list!
Eyes: I’ve always been extremely sensitive to light my entire life. I just can’t bear bright, sunny days! Finally, growing older in my teen years and getting to wear sunglasses (prescription glasses since age seven), was such a relief!
Also, bright lights in shopping stores can be a major problem (ironically you have a shopping Post up!)
Ears: I have had Tinnitus all of my life, however, I am sort of used to it now? I do have a huge startle response, though! Loud noises may make me jump 10ft. in the air!
I can not deal with misc. noise from the world, garble and prattle, so my iPod is essential. Also, I have problems with processing sounds. No formal dx. but APD–Auditory Processing Disorder. For example, I can not decipher lyrics of songs while the music is playing simultaneously. Actually, even with a capella I may still have issues!
Nose: This is either/or. I can be either very sensitive to smells or not smell anything at all. However, I also have Epilepsy so it may be difficult to know if I am having an Olfactory Seizure.
Mouth: Not much of a problem there?
Touch: Oh, here we go! Socks sticking to my feet! ACK! I may go a bit backward here from most, as I prefer to wear socks. In fact, I NEED to wear them! My feet are very sensitive! I don’t like to walk in bare feet at all!
Yes, tags on clothing, feeling strangled, however, I also like to feel swaddled. Loose watches and my Medic-Alert Bracelet loose, too. I take off my watch whenever I don’t need to wear it.
Maybe I should stop now? How long is this?!
Also, I wanted to add that I purchased a T-shirt recently and it was actually tagless! I bought it online and it was made by Hanes. I was SO impressed!
Maybe people are starting to catch on to this stuff?
Wow, fantastic giveaway! With how sensory challenges affect my life, I’m currently a nursing student and I’ve learnt and seen it in practice. I have to deal with it regularly in some of my patients so it’s important for me to understand it. We have to realize that it affects everyone differently and also, if needed, we need to teach them about the challenges.
Thanks for the link. I’m too large for these tee shirts but my N3S is also an Aspie and would love something as soft as these. In fact, if I don’t win then I’ll be ordering him some anyway. We both suffer from SO in a myriad of ways every day. He wears earplugs a lot, we’ve had to put laminate flooring down as carpet is too irritating and so on. I get woken millions of times a night because I can hear our bed springs ‘springing’ with each breath we take. Our mattress is top of the line and onlya few months old. Do I need to go on? i could, at great length
In fact I recently wrote a long blog post about being in hospital for day surgery last week and hwo it affected me from a SO point of view and how hospital staff just didn’t understand Asperger’s at all, in fact it was written on my theatre checklist as ‘Assburgers’. WTF?