Hygiene

BRIEF SUMMARY

One of the more sensitive issues that school counselors may face is dealing with a student with poor hygiene. This is not an issue that you can easily ignore, especially if it is giving rise to ridicule and rejection from peers. If the child does not learn good hygiene by the time he leaves elementary school, he is likely in for a rough time in middle school. Poor hygiene can take various forms, such as having disheveled hair, wearing dirty clothes and having body odor. Because of the potentially significant impact, you cannot sidestep hygiene issues with your students. Rather you must deal with them with honesty and directness, but also with sensitivity and concern for the student’s emotional well-being. (Assisting a Child with Poor Hygiene, Dr. Kenneth Shore)

KEY POINTS

• Make hygiene a regular part of the health curriculum.
• Talk with the student privately.
• Monitor the student’s hygiene.
• Have some hygiene items handy.
• Work out a private signal to cue a student who is picking his nose.

SHARED WISDOM

• Question: Do any elementary schools permit students to shower at school when they do not have water at home or are just not showering at home for whatever reason? If so, what are our policies around this?
  • Response: We do this at our Intermediate School. We always get parent permission first. Then there are those that are regulars so we have already set that up with parents. We have never had a parent say no. We just put the student with supplies in the shower and have them lock the door and we sit outside in the area until they are done.
  • Response: We allowed it in times of need or emergencies. We also put in place safeguards and privacy plans. Although we don’t supply soap, towels etc., we kept a community basket of unused (shampoos, shower gels and lotions) from hotels that our staff would bring in.

RESOURCES

• Addressing Elementary Student Hygiene
• How to Deal with Student Hygiene Issues
• Assisting a Child with Poor Hygiene
• The Poverty Effect: Schools must deal with student personal hygiene issues

CONTACT TOPIC MANAGER

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• Kelly on April 8, 2019 @ 19:10:38
• Kelly on November 5, 2018 @ 21:31:43
• Kelly on November 5, 2018 @ 21:30:04

This post was created by EFGH ContentManager on November 5, 2018.