Safety Solutions
Is there anything I can do to prevent my child from running away?
My child gets out of his room at night and gets into things, it's not safe, and what should I do?
My child can get out of his car seat and seat belt while I am driving, HELP!!!
If my child gets lost, he has no way of communicating to others how to find me, any thoughts?
Is there anything I can do to prevent my child from running away?
Young children with autism run away for different reasons. Your job first is to determine why the child is running away.
Here are a few reasons why your child might be running away:
Attention - some kids run away simply because it is fun and they get attention from it!
Pleasure in running - Some kids run away just because they like to run!
Escape - Some kids run away in order to escape certain tasks or environments.
Others might run away because they get easily distracted and see something interesting in their environment that they want to interact with (e.g. an interesting yard ornament in the house down the street).
Mixture of all of the above - some might run away for different reasons at different times!
Once you have determined the meaning behind why your child is running away, you can next decide what steps to take to prevent your child from running away.
Behavioral strategies:
Reinforcement! Giving your child reinforcement or special rewards when he/she asks before going somewhere. This is effective for the child who is verbal and just likes to wander around. Giving him/her something positive for telling you where he/she is going can be effective.
Social stories - Social stories (www.theqravcenter.orq) can be an effective way to help teach kids the importance of not running away. You can write a story about why parents need to know where their children are and what can happen if you run away and don't tell anybody.
Safety strategies:
Special locks above the door - Some parents have installed different types of locks up high on their doors where the child cannot reach the locks. You just have to be cautious about different fire hazards associated with non-traditional locks.
GPS devices or other security alarms - Some devices exist that you can put on your child (watch/necklace) that have a tracking component. Some devices might just go off when the child leaves a certain radius or others might detect the child's actual location in case he/she does get lost.
Few examples:
http://www.qpsnanny.com/
http://www.brickhousesecuritV.com/vbsik.html
http://www.brickhousesecuritV.com/mommv-childlocator.html
My child gets out of his room at night and gets into things, it's not safe, and what should I do?
This is a problem for a lot of families whose children have difficulty staying asleep at night. The child gets out and the parents' may or may not hear the child. For most parents who are used to their child getting up, their ears can be very sensitive.
This is a challenging area. Some families choose to do some type of lock on their child's door to prevent them from getting out of their room. For some parents who do this, they will put some type of audible monitor or video monitor in their child's room so they can see or hear what is going on in case the child were to get sick or something and need his/her parents. This is effective for some families, however, you need to be careful and think about fire hazards associated with this.
Other approaches that some families have taken are more behavioral type approaches. So, if your child gets out of his/her room, immediately take the child back into their bedroom. It is important that you escort him/her back to their bed right away - no matter how tired you are! Try to be consistent each time with how you respond to your child.
For older children who enjoy reading stories, you can consider writing a social story (www.theqravcenter.orq) that describes why it is important to stay in your room at night. You can follow-up the story with a reward system for staying in his/her room at night (e.g. each time you stay all night in your own room you get a star, when you get five stars, you get a special trip to get ice cream).
My child is hitting his head into windows and walls, I am afraid he is going to break them, what should I do?
The first you need to do is put on your private investigator hat and try to figure out why he/she is doing this. Here are a few reasons why your child might be hitting his head into windows and/or walls:
Is he doing it because he is trying to tell you something? Is he trying to communicate to you something that you are not understanding?
Solution: If this is the problem, then you need to teach him an appropriate way to communicate what he needs. You might teach him how to use a picture that describes what he wants, or maybe some type of gesture that communicates his needs.
Is she doing it because she is bored and doesn't have a lot of ways to occupy her time?
Solution: If you think this is the problem, then you need to teach her some ways to occupy her time. So, teaching her some basic play or work skills in order to better occupy her time. A good website to learn ways to help structure the child's work and play skills is http://www.teacch.org./
Is he doing this because of some type of sensory need? Maybe your child is seeking out more sensory information that what he is getting in his daily activities.
Solution: If this is the case then try to find ways for your child to get this sensory input in safe ways. Maybe find the child some type of punching bag he can hit his head on, maybe give the child an area with lots of pillows and padding that he can safely hit his head against.
Is this just a way the child can get more attention?
Solution: If this is the issue, then you need to give her more attention and rewards during the times she is not hitting her head against the glass. Bombarding her with positive praise and rewards, try to distract her from hitting her head against the glass?
Is your child sick? Maybe your child has a headache, ear infection, stomach ache and unable to clearly communicate this to you.
Solution: Take her to the pediatrician or family physician.
Remember, as you are investigating all these different reasons, you need to make sure your child is safe; here are a few safety ideas for windows that can keep your child safe:
Shutters over windows.
Putting a baby gate in the window sill so your child can't get to the actual glass (www.babiesrus.com)
http://www.123safe.com/scstore/cchiWindow SafetV.html
My child can get out of his car seat and seat belt while I am driving, HELP!!!
This is a major area of safety, as you know! You need to focus on this as soon as possible.
First, make sure your child locks are on in your car. You can look for them on the inside of the bottom/inside of your car door. When the child lock is on, your child cannot open the door from the inside of the car, but you can still open it from the outside.
Once you have done this then you need to look at what your child is sitting in. Maybe you should consider putting your child back into a car seat system with a 5-point harness, this is typically more difficult for children to get out of.
If your child is too big for a system using a 5-point harness, then you can try a buckle for the seat belt. Here is a link to the "Buckle Boss". It's an expensive way to make car riding safer for your child. http://www.abledata.com/abledata.
Also, consider using some behavioral type approaches with your child for good car riding. Maybe write a social story (www.theqravcenter.orq) that describes why it is important to stay in your seat belt. Follow the story up with a reward for staying in the seat belt. You could consider setting a timer why you are driving and every time the timer goes off and your child stays in the seat belt they get a token or reward. Or, you could say for every song that is played on the radio that they stay in their seat belt they get a special sticker or reward.
Also, think about what your child is doing during the car ride. Is she possibly getting bored and finding ways just getting bored riding in the car? If this is the case, you need to find more productive things for your child to do while riding in the car. Here are a few ideas:
Put together a traveling activity pack that your child can only access when in the car.
Put together a bag full of favorite snacks that you child can only access when in the car.
If you car has a DVD player, considering bringing favorite movies. If your child attempts to get out, turn off the movie until he is back in the proper seat.
Play your child's favorite music, when your child attempts to get out of seat belt turn it off.
If my child gets lost, he has no way of communicating to others how to find me, any thoughts?
As we all know, many children with autism like to wander and some like to run away. Our job is to make sure that if they do, they can either communicate or display who they are and who they belong to.
If your child has the ability to communicate either verbally or with pictures, then consider making this safety issue a big part of your program. For example, teaching the child how to respond to these simple questions:
- What's your name?
- What's your last name?
- Where's your mom?
- What's your phone number?
- What's your address?
If you are going to work on these skills, make sure you work on generalization of these skills. For example, once the child can consistently answer these questions with you; have a stranger ask your child these questions to see if the child responds the same way.
If your child is not able to respond to these questions effectively, then consider some other options for communicating this to people. Here are a few ideas:
- Temporary tattoos - These are tattoos that you can put on your child that can state all of their important information about who they are and who to contact if found. http://www.tattooswithapurpose.com/
- Necklace - some type of necklace (e.g. dog tag) that can indicate on it the relevant information about the child.
- If the child always carries a backpack or wallet, consider putting an ID in the backpack with important contact information.
- Remember, if your child uses a communication device or a communication notebook, make sure those options are programmed and the child knows when and how to access them.