What can I do???? | Autism PDD

If running off (elopement) is still a fear, you'll find lots of good tips under the following topics on our forum:

http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16989&am p;am p;KW=Lifesaver

http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17018&am p;am p;KW=missing

Sorry to hear you're struggling with this.

   My son Kenneth has a habit of waking up alot earlier than anyone else (but only on days he doesnt have school, strangely enough.) Sometimes he's very careful to be quiet and not wake anyone... which is really NOT a good thing.

   Now, I remember being younger than Kenneth, and if I woke up before my parents, it really wasnt much of a big deal. I could kind of take care of myself for the most part and not get into trouble.... Kenneth though, almost seems to seek trouble out.

    When he was younger, he would actually leave the house, and regardless of how many locks we would put on the door, he could undo them and get past them. I became an extremely light sleeper because of this.

    Luckilly -knocks on wood- he hasnt been leaving the house, but after a really difficult night, he woke up before I did this morning, and somehow got his hands on some lubricant. (Its like WD40, but that wasnt the brand)

   He sprayed our kitchen chalkboard with it, the floor, himself, the living room table, the television and the window. The only thing I can think of is that he thought it was like deodorant or cleaner.

   I woke up not very long into this, scrubbed him down in the shower, opened the windows and tried to clean it up as much as possible, as we live in a small apartment and the fumes are still strong even two hours later.

   I dont think he could smell it at all, as he has a case of the sniffles at the moment and is all stuffed up.

Kenneth seems to understand that I'm upset and frightened by what happened, but I dont think he really understands why... and the other problem is that I know he wont associate this with other cleaners/soaps/etc. He can get past child locks and safety hinges without an issue.

   Sometimes, I think the most difficult part of his Autism, is trying to keep him -safe-. He has no sense of self-preservation. You simply cannot let him be by himself much at all, even in a controlled environment.

Does anyone else have issues like this? (I know I cant be alone in this.) Is there anything I can do? Maybe I'm just using the wrong string of words to tell him why doing this sort of thing is so dangerous.. I dont know :(

   Its bad enough that he struggles so hard with everything, I cant even seem to keep him safe :(

-Saiyge
(Kenneth is about to turn 7 on the 26th. He is mainstreamed into First grade.)

Random thought, have you thought about a motion sensor?

This product that I found below uses voice alerts you record yourself rather than alarms. The way it sounds like it works is you could put the sensor in the hall right outside his door and the base on your nightstand. When your son trips the sensor in the hall, the unit would start playing your own prerecorded message of "Kenneth is out of his room" or something like that so you would know he's up and about.

http://www.safe-t-defense.com/voicealert.htm

I have no experience with this myself, I just went and found this product thinking it might be helpful.

My little one still can't open her door yet so we keep her shut in her bedroom at night. She bangs on the door when she wakes up and we let her out. I tried leaving it open and she would get out in the middle of the night and get into stuff :(

I'm sorry I don't have any advice, but just wanted to say I'm sorry you had this scare and that I'm sure you will get some good ideas from the parents of older kids. I know there are at least a few escape artists amongst the kids here.

hang in there and take care
Kristy, thats actually a neat idea.... I'll take a look at that!

Allegra, Thank you :)

I think I've had worse scares than this one actually, when he was almost 2 he got out at 5AM and crossed the street and sat down in the snow, and was only wearing a diaper. I had pneumonia at the time.... I remember the doctor was threatening me with the hospital if I diddnt sleep. I woke up to a stranger walking into my living room and putting Kenneth on the floor. Absolutely terrifying.

We used baby gates until he was 5... he could get over them, but they would make a noise if he climbed over them and that would wake us up most of the time. The main problem now is that while he's just about 7, he is about the size of a 4th grader, he's extremely tall and strong.

From what I've read it seems as if you have what I call a "digger and explorer," too. My son, who is thirteen now, has always been a digger and explorer, from smearing deoderant and toothpaste all over, to covering himself head to toe in lotion or hair gel, to opening the front door and running out into the street whenever he takes the notion, to eating jelly out of a jar with a spoon at 4am. Ironically, the only time he is quiet when he wakes up before I do is when he wants to dig and explore, otherwise he will get up, go downstairs and yell from the first floor (my bedroom is on the third floor) "Mom! Mom!! Yo Mom!!! I want waffles!" (Yo??? Where he got that from I will never know). At any rate, what I have discovered from his behavior is that its a way of exploring his environment, in addition to fulfilling sensory needs. So, sometimes I will give him a sensory outlet that I know he finds enjoyable, i.e., a certain perfume or air spray he can spritz on his hand and sniff as he quietly watches tv, or leaving the tv on a certain channel I know he finds enjoyable so that he can wake up and turn that on and remain engrossed. To keep him from escaping outside of the house, unfortunately, I have to barracade the front door because I have yet to find a device or object that will do that for me. But, my only advice to you is to try and find out what purpose does the behavior have for him and and that will help tremendously in modifying it, and the only way to do that is to observe him over a period of time and log what he does and when he does it. Keep me posted as to your progress.

When my 15 year old son was younger he would do similar things but thankfully none of them were too dangerous. I would wake to find 2 kilos of apples diced all over the kitchen table or 4 litres of sauce painted on the hall floor. He also liked to escape from the house and yard on regular occasions so all doors and windows had key locks and the keys were worn on a chain around my neck. Never really found a solution to the waking problem but now that he is older he will wake and play the playstation or the computer. Funny how when he uses these during the day he has them really loud but in the middle of the night he turns the volume right down. We found him once at 3 in the morning asleep at the computer with his head on the keyboard. In my job as a carer for adults with disabilities, one of our clients wakes often in the night and a motion sensor has been fitted in his doorway to alert staff that he is awake. Hope this helps.
PS. As he gets older the escape incidents have been decreasing to the point where it hasn't happened for about 2 years now.
Aussie Mum39354.1059722222Because Don was such a flight risk when he was younger, we had an
alarm on his bedroom door. We installed the alarm on the outside, so he
couldn't tamper with it. Then, when he openned his door, the alarm
would go off to let us know. We were lucky that he hated the alarm
enough that he quickly just stopped opening his door.

However, that led to another problem - him peeing in his room.

Through much trial and error, maturity, and the use of lots of visuals and
social stories, today Donny has no alarm on his door. He gets up, uses
the washroom, and goes back and plays in his room until we get up.
There is a gate across the hall, which I made, that was originally to keep
his foster brother from wandering into the kitchen and living room at
night. Now, it's not even locked, and even when it was, Don could go
under it, however it has visuals all over it which tell him to go back to his
room, and that visual reminder has been very effective.

It's now my goal that within the next 5 years, Donny will get up
independently, take his meds, and get himself breakfast...a girl can
dream, right?