Re: Car Seat for Autistic Children?

[Guest guest]

boy do I agree with the fact that one SHOULD be available. But I'll tell ya that at least back about a year ago when I was desperatly trying to find something for this exact reason, there wasn't.

 

And I will also say that some of the other products mentioned have to be looked at very closely as they won't work on all carseats or seat belts.  

My daughter is 6 1/2 and by FL state law she is allowed to sit in a regular seatbelt (since she turned 4), however between the ASD and her ADHD, she really does not sit safely in a seat belt and she is small for her age, so the seat belts don't fit her appropriately. I'm a HUGE car seat safety advocate and have taken multiple classes on car seat safety and have always done the safest way instead of just what was required by law.

I used to have the car seat called Alpha Omega (if I remember correctly) and we never had any issue, the way the buckle is released, she could never do it on her own, even though he knew how, she couldn't actually slide it down hard enough to release the buckles. Problem was that it only held up to 40lbs. A few years ago, when my daughter weighed 38lbs I was worried about that and that I didn't see how we could remove her from a 5 pt. harness anytime soon so we invested in a Britax seat that hold up to 80lbs, unfortunately the release button is Much MUCH easier to push and release.

 

a year ago when she went through this phase of getting out of her seat, I was ready to loose my mind. Seriously. Because it's fine to say 'just pull over and don't go till they get back in' and to teach them to stay buckled to stay safe etc. But my girl was an AVID Dora fan then, and she knew that phrase very well, but when she didn't want to go where we were going or didn't care, or maybe she didn't comprehend where we were going.... None of that mattered. She would fight me tooth and nail. During that time she not only gave me trouble, but the Bus driver too. We went through several contraptions the school had for keeping a child in their seat and NONE of them worked. Eventually they told me that she could not ride the bus anymore because they were too often having to turn the bus around and call me to come get her, or weren't even able to get her on the bus at all.

I literally had to quit my job because I was being called to leave early everyday in order to go pick her up.

And me picking her up did not help. The trip from her school to our home was 10 miles, I would stop several times to put her back in, but that was a challenge its self, she would hit, pinch, scream, bite, scratch and even take my glasses off and throw them (now I'm SERIOUSLY blind without them, so NOT good)

 

I did not go anywhere with her by myself that I did not HAVE to go. If we went as a family somewhere then one of us would have to sit next to her and keep her from touching the button. But when I was alone, on the way home from school for example, it was a constant battle. I tried many times to let her calm down and be willing to get back in.... One time I was on the side of the road for more than 2 hours! And she still wasn't willing to get in without a fight and till got back out less than one mile down the road... 10 mile drive here... and not a ton of places to be able to safely pull over either. So unfortunately I did at times have to drive without her in her seat. I HATED it, but I didn't have anyone that could come help me and I had another child at home that I had to get home to. And not every trip can be given the luxury of waiting till the child is willing to stay in and 'gets' that they need to stay safe.

 

So while I totally agree that the safety part needs to be taught, a person or family does not have the luxury of waiting until this is learned and accepted as something we don't do.

 

We looked high and low for something that you can snap around the carseat buckle to prevent the child from pushing the button, but keep in mind that safety still needs to come first, and if you lock it with an actual lock, what will happen in the case of an actual accident? Will you be able to open it to remove the child? even if you have a key on your key ring, what if you're not concious and it's EMS workers trying to remove the child? They are not going to be able to easily and the time it could take them to find a way to get the box off, could be damaging.

 

When I was having my problems someone suggested a piece of fabric, maybe with their favorite tv character on it, with velcro that can wrap around the button to cover it. It may not stop the behavior completely, especially not a first when it's a new novel thing there... but the sound of the velcro being pulled apart can at least give you a warning before the buckles are actully released. I know my child could be at the back of the van by the time I heard the click of the buckle coming undone.

Then distractions, distractions distractions... that's all that worked for my daughter in the end. I won't say she never bothers it anymore, cause she does at times, but it's not constant and not ever single time we go somewhere anymore.

But we got her some things to do in the car, not that she didn't have stuff before, but they weren't things that distracted her enough from her desire to be out of the seat.

 

We got her the Fisher Price Kid Tough DVD player (and hubby sewed a strap on it so that it could be buckled behind her and sat on her lap, so she couldn't throw it, cause even though it's 'kid tough' I'm not sure it's 'Autism Tough' LOL)  We also let her use a Nintendo DS, she loves the Nintendogs game and can get really involved in playing with the dogs on there. Also simple crayons and coloring books and even one of those bead maze toys. We also almost never listen to the radio anymore when she is in the car, we listen to a kids CD that has a few songs she loves. They have hand motions to the songs too (5 monkeys jumping on the bed, If your happy and you know it, etc.) so that keeps her engaged with that. And gives me something to take away if she does try to release the buckles.

 

Some of these may work for you, but you may have to find a toy or activity that your child really loves, that can be brought into the car, but finding something else that they can focus on is key.

 

Even though we've not had the major issue for sometime, we still have to give her something to do while in her carseat, even for a short trip, otherwise she gets bored quickly and will start playing with the straps and buckles again.

 

I'm sorry this is such a book, but having gone through this fairly recently myself, I felt I wanted to share everything we did to get through the worst of it. Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

 

Theresa