Saftey issues | Autism PDD

Mom2Carlo,

YES my son has safety issues!! He doesn't even seem to understand that dangerous things will hurt him. He is 3 but by this age my other children knew pretty much what was safe and what wasn't. Adam seems to not have a clue that fire hurts....cars will run you over....etc. We don't play in the front yard

Karrie

Tyler also has impulsive behavior that causes safety issues. I agree with Tammy REPETATIVE REINFORCEMENT is what I have been doing with Tyler... It has helped some, but it hasn't cure everythign. Saying THE RULES are mater of factly stating the rules you want followed also helps Tyler to a degree but he needs constant reminders as well.

You aren't alone. Hang in there!

thanks to everyone for your replies, it's nice to know i'm not alone in this, thanks for being so caring and understandind.all of you make it easier for me to get thru each day.hang in there toall of you as well.mom2carlo

Yes this concerns me w/ Aiden too. He runs right out in the road (though many 2 yr olds probably don't understand some danger things anyway). He also will just jump down stairs. He has tried to just walk right through a railing many times around stairs where the drop is 10-25 ft! Scares the heck outta me. He has no fear of strange men even if they look big and scarey. He'll walk right up and talk to them, while ignoring the safe children nearby lol. Now as for advice...I have none. Sorry just wanted you to know you weren't alone in your concerns.

Amber

With Gabe I have another rule, lol, you can tell him 500 times not to do something and he will do it 501 times. Gabe also will talk to anyone. And funny but what you described about Aiden jumping off of stairs, Gabe does that too. His maturity level is still at the 3 to 5 year old range. But the school transportation company will write him up for that. You know I swear some people shouldn't be doing the driving or they should have a better comprehension of what is going on with the child. Never fear, their day is coming tho to deal with me. They just don't know it yet

Tammy

hey everyone,just wanted to check to see if anyone else was having this kinda of problem. it seems that carlo is unaware of saftey matters.i.e. running into the street when cares r coming,taking off outside and down the street.and the new one yesterday he was standing by the central air unit. i told him to look at me, then i said please move away from that because it's not safe, i also said that you could cut your fingers if they got stuck in there and i'll be darned if he right then stick his fingers in the central air unit. i tried to explain to him again after that, that it was dangerous, but he really didn't seem to care or understand me. well thanks for listening, needed to get it off my chest. take care all.mom2carlo

Sounds like impulsive type behaviour. Been there, still there. With both of mine it is just repetititve reinforcement. You do have to tell them over and over again about the safety issues. I know with mine they can't go anywhere unsupervised. I don't think it is that uncommon for kids on the spectrum to have safety related issues. Gabe still plays with matches even tho he does know first hand the safety risks with it. And Jeffrey just doesnt look up for the traffic. He thinks the traffic should be looking for him. Hang in there. Maybe some of the safety issues will go away. But so far with my two, not all of the safety issues have gone away completely.

Tammy

This won't be of much help be/c Luke is only 2, but yes he has safety issues, particularly with cars and the road. He'll just run out willy-nilly unless we grab his hand. But I think that's kind of common for his age.

I wonder if you could try using some sort of pictures to get your point across about safety issues? If he sees the danger in pictures, maybe he'd learn a bit better? Just a suggestion. Good luck.

Kellie
Grant as well has safety issues. He does not look out for cars, if I do not grab his hand he will run right out there. We have gates that fence off our driveway so when closed our property is completely fenced in. We have to lock the gates when Grant is outside because he knows how to unlatch them if it is not locked. He will jump off of things. He tries to touch the stove or oven when I am cooking and no matter how many times I have told him that it is dangerous, he just does not seem to get it. He set a small kitchen fire in April with the toaster and seemed to be amazed by the flames. Before I joined this board I felt kinda alone that noone really understood what I go thru and have to deal with and I was glad to find that there are alot of other parents facing the same kind of difficulties and everyone here is very supportive

I am so with you with that problem..I tried and tried...the only thing I could do was make my home SUPER child proof. There is now nothing that he can get into, the doors are all now child proof, and things are ok now..he is 2..but I know soon he will be able to open those childproof locks.

I don't know what to do either. I know I should teach him..not just childproof everything, but he can't understand that yet. maybe some day!

Those childproof things with mine worked for like three months. They had them figured out that quickly. Now what is really a pain is the childproof medicine caps. They should be renamed adult proof medicine caps.

Tammy

Tammy I hear you on that one!! LOL My kids were always able to manipulate child proof caps but ME......LOL that's a different story all together!!!

Karrie