Autism Safety

Post Reply New Topic

Injuries are the leading cause of death and disability in children. Children with autism have significantly higher rates of injury, emergency room visits, and hospital admissions than do typical children.

Maybe so but they're still capable of common sense. I wouldn't pin the blame solely on the child's state of mind as it's the parents responsibility to teach a child not to cause itself harm.

that is why it is important to figure out what the factors are that can be changed to help keep kids with autism more safe.
If it is a skill deficit, which you are implying, then which skills are deficient, how can we best teach them etc...

There are probably a variety of contributing factors, but the tendency towards clumsiness is probably the simplest.

Well my opinion is that parents are filling in a far too "chummy" role with their kids these days, before this whole "mates with your kids" phenomena began taking place the parental figure stood for obedience; a font for wisdom disguised as an important authority in the child's life. I realize that in today's increasingly "liberal" society being friends with your child is a desirable situation as it not only makes the parents life easier but it lifts the veil of authority that, apparently, acts as an iron oppressor however I feel that nothing could be more damaging for the child (especially considering integration into the hierarchical society). I can only assume that it's this lax parenting technique that leads (a proportion) of children today to disassociate the parental figure with advice that it would be in their best interests to follow, thus, amongst of course many other factors, causing the spate of injuries you're seeing. I do however feel this is the same on and off the autistic spectrum, I really couldn't say what's causing these figures you stated (where did you get these facts anyway?).

Also I assume your post count means you're new here? If so, welcome to WP

Don't have glass coffee tables... that's what my mom did.

People with ASDs will often fail to see cause and effect until they've directly experienced its outcome.

You can speak blue in the face that walking along something high and narrow is dangerous, but they still won't know it until they fall.

This is the social disconnect; people with autism are cut-off from the outside ideas of others, as per Lorna Wing describing individuals who "only" have AS, and also my experience (which is actually somewhat extensive, from my own behaviour and reading a lot of textbooks).

It improves as the individual ages, but it'll never be the same as a normal individual.

My advice:

Keep an eye on them always, as your word won't do much.

whether it be clumsiness, or a lack of supervision (the trend in parenting Amber refers to doesn't explain why children with autism have significantly higher rates of injuries than typical children), we still need to identify some correlations and make serious efforts to change this trend.

The leading cause of death for children with autism is due to drowning - injuries and accidents should be at the for-front of people's minds.

As I said, I don't know the contributor to the Autism figures but I strongly feel my theory plays in greatly to the figures considering the extra guidance an AS brain needs to function in an NT world.

Danielismyname's statement is probably near enough spot on although I was medically diagnosed with AS and I have only been hospitalized once (and for something that was out of my control). I don't think, in that case, there is anything you can do about it except stay vigilant with your child.

I would recommend moving this post to the Parents Discussion section (or at least repeating it there).

A few of the things that I have done to help keep my child (age 5 and diagnosed with PDD-NOS) safe:

1. At a lakefront property where we visit family - I put both of my preschool children in a comfortable life jacket while they were awake and running around the property (n.b. I still supervised them very, very closely, the life jacket was so that I had something visible to grab onto should they run and fall off the dock into the water, it was not a substitute for close supervision)

2. I put up a double sided lock on my front door - one needs a key to get in or out. This keeps my child from running from my house.

3. I keep all medicines very well out-of-reach and/or locked

4. I use non-toxic cleaning products and anything that can be harmful if swallowed is kept high up and locked.

5. I have a round table - no edges to bump into

6. My child's mattress is on the floor of their bedroom - not too high to fall from or jump off from.

7. I keep baby-gates in the windows (n.b. I still remind the children to keep off the window sills as the baby gates are only a secondary preventative measure. This helps prevent my kids from falling through the window.

8. I keep the main bathroom locked. We have a second washroom with just a toilet and basin - this is kept unlocked for the kids to use.

So far, I have been lucky and/or vigilant. My child has remained safe.

If anyone has anything to add - please do or feel free to start a new thread.