"Child proofing" for older kids or adults

I have a curious, intelligent, mechanically inclined 9 year old boy.  With autism, poor impulse control, and very poor judgement about safety.  Can we say, "TROUBLE"?



Hy LOVES science experiments.  Lately, most of these experiments involve finding any soap, lotion, shampoo, or cool-colored liquid in the house, mixing it up, and then trying it out.  If it tastes nasty, he tries to coax his sister into trying it.  Alternately, he will find small candies (or pills) and try to dissolve them and then get Han to drink it.

Then there are his "props" for his various flights of fancy.  Lately it is baby powder, i.e. "sleeping powder".  Two months ago, he lined up all of his stuffed animals all around the walls of his room and then sprinkled them all liberally to "put them to sleep."  Then, since it's so fun to puff that powder, he doused the majority of the bathroom.  He has also stood at the top of the stairs and puffed powder downward until someone happens to walk underneath, just to see if they will fall asleep on the stairs.  Twice.  (Yes, it was cute.  And at least it smelled nice.)

Then there are random holes cut in sheets with safety scissors, his fascination with laundry detergent dispensers, hand-drawn "mouse holes" on the baseboards, cooking experiments, and his inability wait next to a door without opening it repeatedly...let's just say that Hy keeps us on our toes!

Now I can't stop everything.  I don't even try.  But the extreme safety issues do need to be addressed.  Just HOW do you child-proof a house once the child is your size?  You run out of "out-of-reach" spots really quickly!  And child locks don't work anymore.  Well, every child's "temptations" are different, so I don't have answers for every situation, but we do have a few ideas to share.

Fortunately, I worked for a year in group homes for adults with developmental disabilities.  I learned A LOT about managing a real home with people who have various abilities.  Many clients were trustworthy, but a few were like Hy and needed things kept safely out of reach.  Here are some tricks that I learned at work, as well as a few I developed myself for my and Hy's needs:

-A LOCKED CLOSET.  One large pantry closet dedicated to everything off-limits.  In our old house, it was in the kitchen and it contained cleaning solutions, medicines, markers, scissors, and Nate's medical supplies (after the time I found Nate's head covered with at least two dozen Tendergrip tabs which are essentially a combination between stickers and band-aids).  In the group homes, these closets contained medications, soda pop and wine (they were adults and allowed to drink under strict limitations), rewards for reward systems, objects that created OCDs, hand tools, etc.  In my current home I lock up the meds, cleaning supplies, and bathroom supplies in separate containers, since I don't have a good central location.  Which brings me to the next subject.

-MEDICINE CONTAINERS.  In the group homes, they had a fishing tackle box for each client on medication.  They used a luggage combination lock to lock the "meds box" and stored the meds in the various compartments inside.  I do the same thing for Nate.  I keep large refill containers (like the big Miralax bottle) and PRN meds (these are meds that he only occasionally uses) in the large space at the bottom.  Current meds are held in the tray.  Prescription labels, gauze, q-tips and other dispensing or informational supplies are in the snap-top since they need to be on hand but are not harmful in themselves.  When I'm really organized, I've got a meds list and dosing schedule somewhere in the box, too.  Otherwise it's in his medical notebook (that's an entirely different post).  The remainder of the household medications are housed in clear make-up bags that have two zipper tabs on the same zipper, or that have a loop next to the place where the zipper tab stops when the bag is closed.  I use a luggage lock to secure the two zipper pull tabs together (or the tab to the loop).  I like that I can look through and see just what is in that particular bag.  It wouldn't be too difficult to cut open a bag, but Hy doesn't do that sort of thing, he just needs a good deterrent.  The bags are small and portable, which is nice for road trips or a med that needs to be kept in the fridge.

-LOCKED CUPBOARDS.  Of course, there are fancy cupboard locks that a handyman can install for you.  Those are great.  But I'm cheap.  So we use a hasp and a combination lock (since I hate keeping track of a key, and Hy uses keys like a pro).  We don't lock up everything, since it's a pain for the rest of the family, and because Hy needs to practice self-control.  But some things like cleaning solution and current OCD objects get locked up for peace of mind and sanity.

-DOORS.  Yeah, Hy used to wander the neighborhood and we had a couple panicky search parties.  When Hy was still short and not strong enough to drag a chair to the door, we used a door flip lock.  A door chain or security latch (like the one on many hotel room doors) would have worked as well.  Now that he is older, I have come very close to buying door alarms.  Close, but not quite, since we are now renting and the good alarms aren't mounted with removable tape.  So far, Hy has been mastering his impulse as long as we haven't mentioned going on a trip.  But once you say anything about heading outside, he is outside.  Regardless of weather or state of dress.  We're working on that one.  I am considering mounting a bell that barely strikes the top of the door when it's opened.  That would be cheap and easy to remove when we move out.  But I haven't gotten around to it yet.

-FOR MORE IDEAS or more stringent measures, I would suggest looking up information on Prader-Willi syndrome, particularly looking for support groups and parent sites.  The parents and caregivers of people with this syndrome are PROS when it comes to securing off-limits items (in their case, food) from older children and adults.  I learned a lot about how to lock a standard refrigerator from these websites, for example.  We fortunately outgrew the need for that one.