Ripping clothes

kikie

hello my little brother is 18, autistic non verbal and likes ripping his clothes. We don’t know why but basically all of them are gone and we are running out of money to keep buying him some. Does anyone have any tips or even reasoning why he would

Rosie_Scope

Hi @kikie, welcome to the community. There could be lots of reasons why your brother might be ripping his clothes. Does he rip them while he's wearing them or does he rip clothes he finds left out?

If he's ripping them while he's wearing them, it could be that he's finding his clothes uncomfortable in some way. Or it could also be a stim that he uses to cope with anxiety or other sensory issues that are overwhelming him. There's some information about stimming here on the National Autistic Society website in case that's useful to you.

Does he use any sensory items at all? If you can find an object he can touch or rip that could help him stim in a similar way, that might help him meet his needs without destroying his clothes too much. For example, giving him a piece of old cloth or paper he can rip instead of his clothes might be something worth trying.

Have you noticed any patterns around when he's more likely to rip his clothes or is it something he does constantly?