Safety and Travel Beds Useful for Children with Autism

Seems I've been writing letters of medical necessity lately for safety beds for children with a variety of needs.  The obvious medical issues of a child with a brain injury, cerebral palsy, or severe chromosomal abnormalities are easily addressed in such a request, but what about the child with autism who has trouble sleeping and may even put himself in harm's way if he decides to wander in the night?  Most families look to community groups to help raise funds for safety beds, or choose to have a mattress on the floor and put an alarm on the door.  Or turn the child's bedroom door into a dutch door, that's cut in half so the bottom part is locked and the top remains open.  Not so good if your child is a climber, but can be very beneficial in some situations!  Finding a good contact through your physician's office, clinic, or therapy team to write the letter of medical necessity is key.  And then the rebuttal letter when you are denied... one key point to emphasize is that the bed is MEDICALLY necessary, not BEHAVIORALLY necessary.  Explain the medical risks, the life-threatening situations caused by the behavior.

Here are a few of my favorite products out there:

Sleep Safe Bed

Ida and Hannah Beds

Noah's World

Also included in this post are my favorite beds that can be used both in the home and for traveling... lots of families choose this route and skip the insurance puzzle altogether.

The Nickel Bed Tent

The Safety Sleeper

What nifty ways have you come up with to help your child be safe and comfortable at night?  Have you had success being funded through insurance?

Happy dreams,
Chelsea

Trips With a Child With Sensory Needs

Going on a trip is fun and exciting and provides the much needed break from everyday routines.  But, all the unknowns and chaos associated with packing/unpacking and being on a trip can be overwhelming for a child with sensory needs.  Here are some tips to help your trip go smoother and be more enjoyable for everyone.
1- Bring gum or other motion sickness aids. 
    For those children prone to motion sickness, ask your doctor about motion sickness pills or other such remedy.  Some motion sickness pills are ok to give little children in small doses.  These pills can be crushed in apple sauce or pudding to allow a small child to swallow them.
2- Provide frequent movement breaks.
     Stop and get out of the car  if you are on a long car ride.  Most children need this break from sitting in order to endure a long car ride.  Encourage your child to run or jump for a while.
3- Provide lots of entertainment to keep your child occupied during the trip
    Bring books, dvds and toys for your child.  I found that it works best when they are novel toys or special toys.  I would go to the dollar store prior to the trip and pick up a bunch of toys and coloring and activity books.  These would not come out until the trip and then only one at a time.
4- During your trip, keep to familiar routines (such as bed time) as much as possible
     Children crave routine, so stick to some familiar routines in the unknown place.  Try to keep bedtime the same and at relatively the same time as at home.  Try to eat meals close to the same time.  This will allow your child to not feel too disoriented during the time away from home.

Summer Sensory Tips

Summer is almost here and most of us are looking forward to the long, lazy days ahead.  We enjoy the laid back routines, the lack of rushing and the fun activities available in the summer.  But, all these things that we, and typical kids, enjoy and look forward to can be very stressful for a child with sensory needs.  The more stressed these children are, the more behaviors they exhibit and the more stressful and unpleasant it is for the entire family.  So, we will provide some tips and ideas in the next few posts to help you, and your child with sensory needs, make a smooth transition into the summer months. 
1- Don't entirely throw out structure in your days
Kids with sensory challenges crave structure and routine.  They need to know what to expect during their day and changes can be stressful and unpleasant.  While we aren't suggesting that you maintain your hectic school/work/activity schedule, we do suggest keeping some structure in your days.  Keep to a bedtime routine.  If you are going to let your child stay up a little later, be sure he/she is getting the same amount of sleep as during the school year and continue with a familiar bedtime ritual.  Keep a calendar visible and mark off each day of summer for your child to see.  If needed, allow your child to see a schedule for each day, whether a picture schedule or in writing, so that he/she will know what to expect throughout the day.  And, limit unnecessary transitions during your day.
2-Limit Stressful activities
Some children with sensory difficulties do not like loud, hectic environments.  If the pool is overly crowded and loud during the middle of the day, go in the early evening or late afternoon when it starts clearing out.  Bowling alleys and the loud bang of the pins can be stressful, so either go at non-peak times, or bring ear buds or head phones for your child to dilute the sounds.  

Summer Camps

Time is of the essence when registering for camps these days to have your child experience nature and fun, in a therapeutic environment.  Many camps train counselors and have weeks geared towards particular areas of need, i.e. social skills, ADHD, and will often indicate what developmental level would be best served in their environment.  Try this link for a list of camps in PA, this site also allows you to search by state and category of need.

Summer Camps in PA for Kids with Special Needs

Some kids may benefit from a visit to the grounds prior to camp, if permissible.  Also creating a social story that involves explanation of the activities he/she will be participating in can be helpful.  You can even make a popsicle stick puppet of your child to interact with pages in the book!

Slime

Here's a fun activity for kids and adults.  Make slime!  It's easy, just one part glue to 3/4 part liquid starch.  You can use colored glitter glue to make fun looking slime.  Kids love to be able to play with it and it's a great sensory play idea!

Hand Dominance

A question that I am asked frequently by parents and teachers is when should kids be forced to choose a dominant hand for writing.  It seems as soon as children pick up their first crayon to scribble, parents begin to wonder whether he/she will be a righty or a lefty.  The older that child gets, the more anxious parents get about forcing a hand dominance.  I tell parents to let your child switch hands if that's what they do.  Some children pick up a crayon and only use one hand from the start.  Others switch hands up until kindergarten, or beyond.  My rule of thumb is this:  let them switch, as long as both are functional, until they either use one hand approximately 75% of the time, or until first grade, at which point it is time to pick (very rarely do children go this long).  Parents and teachers will begin to see a child that switches become much more accurate and sure with one hand over the other.  This will be the sign of which hand will be his/her dominant hand.  When the child begins to use one hand more than the other, and you can clearly see the difference in performance, you can start to reposition the crayon/pencil into that hand.  No worries if your child is 4 and you still don't see this.  Hand dominance has it's way of naturally occuring.

Teaching Young Left-Hand Writers

As the mother of a left-hand writer, I am aware of the difficulty faced when teaching a left-hand child to write, so I wanted to again address these difficulties and offer solutions.  First, lets compare the writing of left-handers and right-handers. Right-hand writers use their elbows as a pivot point to allow for smooth movement across the paper.  The fingers control the pencil while the forearm moves in an arc away from the center of the body.  As letters are written, they are visible to a right-hand writer since the hand moves away from the letters while moving across the paper.    Not so for the left-hand writer if the paper is positioned as a right-hand writer positions his/her paper.  The left-hand writer is not able to use the elbow as a pivot because the paper is slanted the wrong direction.  The entire forearm moves the pencil.  This makes finger coordination difficult if the paper is positioned as a right-hand writer.  The left-hand writer is unable to see the letters since the hand moves on top of them. 
This is especially difficult for the young learner who needs visual prompts to remember what he/she has already written.  Left-hand children who try to write like right-hand children tend to develop awkward grasps on their pencils to allow them to see the writing.  These grasps make smooth writing difficult.
It is very important to teach paper positioning and good grasps to children from the start.  Perhaps group left-hand children together to allow them to see other children position their paper and to allow them to imitate similar peers.  Teach the children to position the paper, pencil and hand to allow them to see the words.  Allow the child to be a part of finding the best position for him/her.  Then, ensure that the child uses a good grasp on his writing tools to prevent awkward grasps that may impact his/her writing as he/she ages.  It is important to teach good writing habits from the beginning, as it can be nearly impossible to change these habits down the road.