Desperately need ideas from parents. | Autism PDD

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I desperately need ideas or websites with ideas for the unique problem all of us have with keeping our children safe in our homes and keeping our sanity about us with children that want to constantly switch light switches on/off, open refrigerators and stoves, climb in dryers, cut sink faucets on and off, etc. etc......

Would love to hear unique ideas from experienced parents of things they know about or better yet have personally tried.

Thanks,

LJD

i wish i could write a book. you have to choose your battles. when keith did the lights, we would just say thank you power miser. try to let him do the lights when you are leaving a room. keith became alarmed by the sound of running water, so that stopped. and we have to keep all of the doors in the house locked and keep and alarm on the front door. when you open the door, it blares like an air horn. you can get them cheap from a pharmacy, hardware store for like 9.00 a set of 4. kmart, walmart too. they stick with tape. very effective!

hth,

kate

We have gates so DS cannot get into the kitchen.

You've reminded me-things I need to do :
Turn down the water heater to 120 or less.
Set home alarm system- to chime everytime an exterior door is opened.

In future I plan to enroll DS in swimming lessons- he is so drawn to water- I worry about drowning.

Some type of lock for the bathroom would be nice too!

Well, I lock all the doors in the house except for his playroom and the room I'm in. I just unlock them with a key if I want to go in. Front and back door have slide locks at the top. And we have an alarm system. I'm mainly looking for supply sources where you can buy STURDY blocks to keep him away from light switches, water faucets, fridge, stove, etc. The little baby safety products are too flimsy.

Thanks,
LJD

SRS-MOM or anyone.

Where do you get gates tall enough to keep a very agile, 7 yr old from getting into the kitchen. I can find extension for gates to take them lengthwise, but nothing to make them taller. He can just climb right over the regular gates.

Thanks,

LJD

For the fridge what I did was I got a long chain and attached it to the back of the fridge. I would wrap it around the freezer and refrigerator door and put a padlock on it. That kept them out of the refrigerator. I never did that to the oven door but I did have to take all of the knobs off of the stove so Gabe didn't play with it. On the microwave I had to engage the child safety lock.

Tammy

Tabitha,

Wasn't it hard for you to get in the refrig when you needed to.?

LJD

Sure it was but I would rather be inconvenienced that way than have everything in the refrigerator end up on the kitchen floor. Alot cheaper to keep it locked up. I weighed the pros and cons and decided to keep it locked up.

Tammy

Hi,

I just put my fridge in the garage, which is accessed through a door in the kitchen!

On the doorknobs, I installed covers (made by The First Years - available cheap at Wal-Mart); you have to push on their sides (at the same time) to reach the doorknob and turn it...pretty clever.

I let him play in the dishwasher; he loves to look at the basket rolling out (familiar, anybody?) and in, on its wheels. As momof566 said...you need to choose your battles.

Take care,

Jo.

The only thing the door knob covers did for me was to keep me out. Both of mine knew how to turn the knobs with the covers on them within a week. The same thing with the cabinet door things made by the same company. You could, and this depends on the type of door knob it is, just remove them.

Tammy

[QUOTE=nickysmamma]

I let him play in the dishwasher; he loves to look at the basket rolling out (familiar, anybody?) and in, on its wheels. As momof566 said...you need to choose your battles.

[/QUOTE]

Just a note on this.... Make sure there aren't any knifes in there or glass that can get broken and cut them!

A friend had a lock installed on her fridge. It was very neat but it did require drilling the door. I googled and found this link.

www.pwsausa.org/org/support/refrigerator_locks.htm

I also installed locks on all the interior doors. Light switches is a tough one. Mine used to flick them on and off quickly. We used to have so many bulbs burn out.

A friend had a real issue with the tap and ended up with a 00 water bill.

Try www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/Product.asp?PG=1013

I also installed a piece of plastic water pipe large enough to cover the handle on the outside tap and with a piece of chain attached on one side of the pipe and then wrapped around the tap and attached to the other side of the pipe with a lock it stopped my son from turning it on.

Hope this helps.

[QUOTE=LJD]

SRS-MOM or anyone.

Thanks,

LJD

[/QUOTE]

LJD,

When Zack was smaller we would put one gate over the top of another. Kind of doubled up to make the gates twice as high. LOL We used the kind with hinges on top so we could enter the rooms ourselves. Sounds kinda strange but it got us through ages 3-6.

Cathy Zack's big sis