Tips and Tricks: Limiting the Wandering – Part One

One of the biggest safety concerns we face with Super D is his wandering. This is a concern with a lot of special needs children, especially those on the spectrum. Controlling the wandering while still providing a safe and pleasant environment is crucial. Yet this is often easier said than done.

Sometimes it takes a little creativity and, in my case, a little redneck ingenuity.

Our first wandering issue we had to handle was at bedtime. All kids like to fight sleep. However, with Super D, fighting sleep means running out of his room. He also wakes up in the night. It is vary rare for him to stay in bed all night long. If he wakes up in the night, he will run the house and possibly the neighborhood. We took a trip to Branson, Missouri, after the baby was born. At one point Super D woke up in the night, went to the kitchen in the condo, got some chips and then turned the tv on.

There are special beds out there which are basically large cribs, but for a 5-year-old who is the size of a 8-year-old and loves to climb, this would not have worked. I thought about turning the door knob around and locking it from the hall. However, I could not stand the idea of the closed room where he couldn’t see us and we couldn’t see him.

My solution, a modified dutch door. For those who may not be familiar with a dutch door, it is two half doors instead of one full door. In our case, I built one which is a little bigger than half out of four 2×4’s, a 2×6 and a piece of drywall left over from a renovation project. I built it large enough to use the existing bottom and middle hinge. That way the original door can be quickly reinstalled. A simple eye bolt holds it closed. Super D can’t climb it, he can see out and we can see him. While it isn’t the best looking door ever, it serves the purpose. In the event he would kick it or throw something at it, the drywall can easily be replaced. If he should fall against it, the drywall will give way and without seriously injuring him. If he was prone to fits or was violent at times, I would replace the drywall with a sheet of plywood.

How do you keep you roaming child in bed at night?