Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
His expensive "watch" has drawn comments from people like you (WHY would someone buy a kid that young a watch like that???), and little do they realize that it is a GPS tracking device, locks in place daily to ensure he can not remove it (and trust me THAT is a hassle...he does not mind wearing it once on, but HATES taking it off and putting it on when it has to recharge) so that, GOD FORBID, he gets away from school, home or separated from us for any reason, we can locate him thru satellite connection since he is unable to speak and convey (or even understand) his name and address or where he belongs.
Congrats on your family being aware of how easily a child with autism can disappear even when they were "right next to you" a second ago. Hopefully you will never need the GPS tracking but it is wonderful piece of mind to have it.
Another, low tech thing to use is the name/address/medical alert tags that attach to the bottom of shoe laces (and are laced in). Often adult runners/bikers use them as they don't often carry identification on long runs/bike rides. That is a nice and easy back up for children with special needs, adults with dementia or very young children.
My son and his wife divorced recently. They have two children, a 12 year old girl with asperger's and a 10 year old boy with classic autism. The two homes are within walking distance of one another, but it is still important for many things not to be transported between the homes.
Now, my grandson has an Ipad at our house (his dad is currently living with us) that we bought well before the divorce. The annoying thing about that is that one of his apps has my ex-dil's email and password to update it and she changed it so I cannot now update it. Luckily, it is an app he doesn't need much now that he is verbal. The Ipad was often used by his therapists, but he is not in much private therapy currently. Mom bought one as well and that one is kept at her house and it used more for games than therapy now. Given that he tends to throw it when he gets angry, we prefer that ours be kept at our home where we supervise him with it.
My son has also ended up being asked to buy separate winter coats and separate clothing which is a bit silly, imo, but which he has been willing to do to keep the peace. The kids are with him every Tuesday and every other weekend as well as for vacation weeks and when he takes them on trips.
Congrats on your family being aware of how easily a child with autism can disappear even when they were "right next to you" a second ago. Hopefully you will never need the GPS tracking but it is wonderful piece of mind to have it.
Another, low tech thing to use is the name/address/medical alert tags that attach to the bottom of shoe laces (and are laced in). Often adult runners/bikers use them as they don't often carry identification on long runs/bike rides. That is a nice and easy back up for children with special needs, adults with dementia or very young children.
I have never heard of that but appreciate the info and will look into it for sure! We normally have to get him the Velcro type of closures for his shoes, because they are one of his LEAST favorite things to wear, but hopefully that will change with age. Right now he is a real escape artist...has even learned how to get out of his high top, leather "club feet" shoes with the bar that he has to wear at nite (to try and correct the position of the bones)...a real Houdini that kid is!
My son and his wife divorced recently. They have two children, a 12 year old girl with asperger's and a 10 year old boy with classic autism. The two homes are within walking distance of one another, but it is still important for many things not to be transported between the homes.
Now, my grandson has an Ipad at our house (his dad is currently living with us) that we bought well before the divorce. The annoying thing about that is that one of his apps has my ex-dil's email and password to update it and she changed it so I cannot now update it. Luckily, it is an app he doesn't need much now that he is verbal. The Ipad was often used by his therapists, but he is not in much private therapy currently. Mom bought one as well and that one is kept at her house and it used more for games than therapy now. Given that he tends to throw it when he gets angry, we prefer that ours be kept at our home where we supervise him with it.
My son has also ended up being asked to buy separate winter coats and separate clothing which is a bit silly, imo, but which he has been willing to do to keep the peace. The kids are with him every Tuesday and every other weekend as well as for vacation weeks and when he takes them on trips.
I am sorry for your struggles, it is hard enough on us as grandparents, but when the child(ren) have special needs, equally difficult as we watch mommy and daddy try to figure out how to do "on their own" those stressors that at the very least contributed to the breakup in the first place.
Our little one is so very smart with apps!!! He plays games and is faster and more reactive than anyone I have ever seen...but not really good with change. I pray some day we can report our little one became verbal! I would be DANCING ON THE CEILING WITH JOY!!!! Can I ask at what age?
BTW, the Fire that we both bought for him is the new kid one...it has a 2 year guarantee on it....if they break it, it gets replaced free! (Bet Amazon was NOT thinking of autistic children when they put that guarantee out there, as you and I both know that throwing in frustration is a favorite pass time of MANY autistic kids). Ya know, when you see a child in a wheel chair, or blind, or with OBVIOUS handicaps, people are much more patient and kind than when they see a "normal" kid that is acting out like a spoiled brat never realizing that he/she may very well have things they are dealing with far, far beyond their control. He is our youngest of 6, and I NEVER knew anyone personally that had dealt with an autistic family member. Unfortunately with the current stats, very few can say that these days as 1 in 88 kids have SOME form of autism to deal with (from very minor to extreme deficits in abilities/developmental delays).
I am sorry for your struggles, it is hard enough on us as grandparents, but when the child(ren) have special needs, equally difficult as we watch mommy and daddy try to figure out how to do "on their own" those stressors that at the very least contributed to the breakup in the first place.
Our little one is so very smart with apps!!! He plays games and is faster and more reactive than anyone I have ever seen...but not really good with change. I pray some day we can report our little one became verbal! I would be DANCING ON THE CEILING WITH JOY!!!! Can I ask at what age?
BTW, the Fire that we both bought for him is the new kid one...it has a 2 year guarantee on it....if they break it, it gets replaced free! (Bet Amazon was NOT thinking of autistic children when they put that guarantee out there, as you and I both know that throwing in frustration is a favorite pass time of MANY autistic kids). Ya know, when you see a child in a wheel chair, or blind, or with OBVIOUS handicaps, people are much more patient and kind than when they see a "normal" kid that is acting out like a spoiled brat never realizing that he/she may very well have things they are dealing with far, far beyond their control. He is our youngest of 6, and I NEVER knew anyone personally that had dealt with an autistic family member. Unfortunately with the current stats, very few can say that these days as 1 in 88 kids have SOME form of autism to deal with (from very minor to extreme deficits in abilities/developmental delays).
My grandson began using words at 3 with his ABA therapists. However, he did not become really verbal until he was 7 or 8. He is 10 and relatively conversational now, but still has pragmatic language deficits and doesn't always use his language correctly.
He has actually been mainstreamed since he began kindergarten (he is a year behind though because we kept him in ABA and only put him into the school district at 5.5 in the special needs ppcd and then the following year he went to kindergarten). He is currently in 4th grade and his special ed teacher pushes into the classroom rather than pulling him out (in k through 2 they did pull out, but they changed to push in the year he went to 3rd grade and we like that better). We are worried about next year as the middle school starts in 5th grade and he is not academically on track in many subjects - he's a good math student, but he cannot read well, so he had trouble with word problems even in his best subject. He reads, but does not comprehend a lot of what he reads. They also start having more teachers so it will be a stretch to see if they take care of him as well as the elementary school did.
His sister is doing very well in 7th grade, btw. We never had an IEP for her, but wrote a 504 when she was going into 5th grade at the middle school. The report we have on her currently says they have NOT needed to use any of the accommodations at all this year, but we are keeping them in place just in case.
My grandson began using words at 3 with his ABA therapists. However, he did not become really verbal until he was 7 or 8. He is 10 and relatively conversational now, but still has pragmatic language deficits and doesn't always use his language correctly.
He has actually been mainstreamed since he began kindergarten (he is a year behind though because we kept him in ABA and only put him into the school district at 5.5 in the special needs ppcd and then the following year he went to kindergarten). He is currently in 4th grade and his special ed teacher pushes into the classroom rather than pulling him out (in k through 2 they did pull out, but they changed to push in the year he went to 3rd grade and we like that better). We are worried about next year as the middle school starts in 5th grade and he is not academically on track in many subjects - he's a good math student, but he cannot read well, so he had trouble with word problems even in his best subject. He reads, but does not comprehend a lot of what he reads. They also start having more teachers so it will be a stretch to see if they take care of him as well as the elementary school did.
His sister is doing very well in 7th grade, btw. We never had an IEP for her, but wrote a 504 when she was going into 5th grade at the middle school. The report we have on her currently says they have NOT needed to use any of the accommodations at all this year, but we are keeping them in place just in case.
Thank you so very much for sharing...it gives me hope for sure. Our little guy was diagnosed at 2, is 5 now, and still in intensive ABA 5 times per week as well has his school program. We are learning single words, but only about 10 total right now...and his favorite is "no" of course. Our one saving grace is as long as he is not upset, scared, hungry or wet, he is a lovebug!!!! Happy, always laughing, often I wish I could crawl into his world and enjoy the wonders he does.
He DOES know and make all the animal sounds very well....but that is about as far as we have gotten. Have been working on potty training FOREVER, but not something he is currently interested in (as he will sit there for an hour, get up and pee immediately).....oh well, one step at a time.
A very Merry Christmas to you and yours...will be grateful when he and his momma get here this evening. Late Christmas eve flight, but will be here and that is all that matters.
Thank you so very much for sharing...it gives me hope for sure. Our little guy was diagnosed at 2, is 5 now, and still in intensive ABA 5 times per week as well has his school program. We are learning single words, but only about 10 total right now...and his favorite is "no" of course. Our one saving grace is as long as he is not upset, scared, hungry or wet, he is a lovebug!!!! Happy, always laughing, often I wish I could crawl into his world and enjoy the wonders he does.
He DOES know and make all the animal sounds very well....but that is about as far as we have gotten. Have been working on potty training FOREVER, but not something he is currently interested in (as he will sit there for an hour, get up and pee immediately).....oh well, one step at a time.
A very Merry Christmas to you and yours...will be grateful when he and his momma get here this evening. Late Christmas eve flight, but will be here and that is all that matters.
For potty training, if he is a visual learner, get this australian video or show it to him on youtube:
My son has also ended up being asked to buy separate winter coats and separate clothing which is a bit silly, imo, but which he has been willing to do to keep the peace. The kids are with him every Tuesday and every other weekend as well as for vacation weeks and when he takes them on trips.
Although, I can see keeping some extra clothes at Dad's house, but extra coats seems rather strange. Do the kids take off their coats before they leave Mom's house and are coat less on the way to Dad's house? Probably not a great idea in the middle of winter.
Having an autistic son that age, I imagine this has everything to do with him not trusting outside supervision with an expensive device. I find in comparison to my husband at least, men are particularly concerned with how electronics are treated. It might not to be spiteful.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We normally have to get him the Velcro type of closures for his shoes, because they are one of his LEAST favorite things to wear, but hopefully that will change with age. Right now he is a real escape artist...has even learned how to get out of his high top, leather "club feet" shoes with the bar that he has to wear at nite (to try and correct the position of the bones)...a real Houdini that kid is!
