To take my SEN child to the beach?

[coronaandtired]

DS is 7 and autistic and we live ten minutes from the beach. He is struggling greatly with being made to stay at home and is used to going out to the beach park etc every day. He also has sensory needs and obviously the beach provides a lot of input.

I'm not sure what the guidance is for SEN kids or if they are exempt from the 'only go out for exercise or to buy meds/food' rule. I wouldn't take DS unless I knew they were exempt, so don't think I'm going to just load him into my car and drive down there!

Just wondering if anyone has heard of a relaxation of the rules in this regard?

I can't find it but you can get very good help and advice here

www.challengingbehaviour.org.uk

In practice it's very very few of them Glom,my child has significant and complex disabilities ,he hasnt been offered a,place ,i m not actually complaining because I'm more concerned about keeping him safe but ime at least the children with EHCP,s I know very few ha v been offered a place in school

I think it's the right thing to close beach car parks, national trust car paths, and I think that the roadblocks on scenic routes are right.
If you can walk there, great. If not, you can't argue with a locked car park can you?

There have been exceptions made in France for people with ASD which may be where the confusion lies. Their lockdown is stricter though. Here you can still drive (or walk) a short distance to exercise. The beach might be closed given what others have said. However, where I am I haven't seen any police checks or car park closures. Certainly no locals putting up blockades!

Id do it, but not every day, and id maybe go first thing in the morning when it was quieter and to be as safe as possible

There ate no exemptions as everyone can catch it equally.

Yes there are exceptions for children with additional needs.

A child with additional needs needs exercise but may not be safe to go straight from the house.

I'm taking my autistic son out tomorrow in the car to a quiet spot because he won't walk if there's anyone around. He needs exercise.

The guidance actually says it " is for everyone in the UK."

There are no exceptions because CV has no exceptions.

It can affects anyone and everyone

Op my son has autism too . We can walk to the beach in a few minutes - but he hates the texture of sand on his feet or skin .
Does your son like the beach ? Not much point taking him if he doesn’t ?!

@cabbageking is right - there are no exceptions - but the OP doesn’t need one, if she can walk to the beach with her son, stays more than 2m from anyone else, and doesn’t meet up with people from other households - because that form of exercise falls clearly within the guidelines.

Going out with a child with SNs but good physical health presents a low risk of spreading Covid 19.
Sticking rigidly to the Mumsnet Lockdown Code can present a high risk of harm to the child and members of their household.

The beach is local. Driving a person with disabilities is reasonable. Autism may not directly be a physical disability, but it may impair a sense of safety or present with accompanying co-morbids such as hypermobility. I haven't forgotten the difficulties of taking forever to walk seemingly short distances with my toddler with undiagnosed ASD and hypermobility. One 300m walk from the community centre took half an hour due to the number of meltdowns every few steps. Due to SPD, I couldn't use a buggy or carry him.

Have proof of your (local) address and DS's diagnosis avaliable if the police do have an issue.

We've had days where to manage meltdowns, and burn off that anxious energy (exacerbated by the change of routine and general state of the country), DS has seperately accompanied DH and me on our daily exercise, because it was better for the health of our household to avoid escalating into violent meltdown which outweighs the minisucle additional risk of spreading Covid 19.

The government is aware of the social consequences of lockdown, increased domestic abuse, risks to (known) vulnerable children and children with EHCPs being eligable to contine going to school.

While my police force have been proactive at strongly discouraging access to popular beauty spots, that doesn't mean that all local rural sites are off limits. Even when they've broken up social groups like parties which are clear, premeditated infringements, they are aiming for doing the job with a light touch not throwing the book at everyone (hey who needs that with the MN Coronastasi on the loose)

Just take him at a quiet time OP.

It will do him the world of good. Sounds like you have a lot on your plate.

No, unless you use it for exercise and live close to it. The car parks are closed and parking all cancelled where l live -right by the beach. To stop people driving to the beach

@coronaandtired does your son have a social worker? I have a letter from my sons social worker explains his challenges and asking them to use their discretion if I am stopped by them (driving calms my son)

@roughtyping @Bagelsandbrie thanks for sharing that list I found it helpful x

If you have to drive to get to the beach it's not allowed. There aren't any exemptions, otherwise everyone would find an excuse and add to the problem.

We live by a beach and it has been a nightmare with people turning up in cars every day for their exercise. It is the busiest I've ever seen it, so much so that local people only go out after dark. It is usually so quiet here, which I think is the issue as everyone thinks it will be deserted. Thankfully the police are now starting to question people parking up, but I'm dreading this weekend.

Check the parking situation first, because you wouldn't want to get there, have DS all excited and then realise you can't go.

If it's all good, go,have fun,run around and enjoy it. It's hard enough as it is, just stay away from people.

And it's not just walking and running. As long as there's enough distance and not busy ,playing is ok too. We saw the police the other while out in a field. I was sitting down(tired after racing DD) and DD and OH were playing football. They said hello, what a lovely day and to have a good rest of the day. There wasn't another soul bar them in the vicinity.

The irony that people with autism are supposed to lack empathy!

Yes go, but the second you se others you have to go as your son if your son is unable to control himself.

Yours mother of twins who lives 5 mins from beach x

Glad someone posted the linked in article - I was dismayed at the ignorance after the first two pages. I would take him. I don’t think people understand.

I’d take him to the beach or park at whatever time will be quietest, observe social distancing as you would normally and as long as you do I very much doubt the police are going to give you a hard time for it.

It’s hard for all of us but I do think it’s harder for parents and carers of people with SN at least in some ways. My son has surprised me with how accepting he’s been (so far) of the new rules- tearful but not lashing out. However I know plenty of parents and their children with SN who are struggling a lot for a multitude of reasons.

Hope you find a way of doing things safely that works for your family OP.

The irony that people with autism are supposed to lack empathy!

Agreed. I’m not exactly shocked by a lot of these replies but I am bummed out by them.

You can go to the beach (even by car) if it's not far but to walk along it not have a picnic. My asd dd is hiding away at home refusing to leave the house, they are all different but certainly there's no exemptions

Road blocks are commonplace in my county which has a lot of coastline. People are being turned back. 11 people were fined yesterday alone.

But some forces are doing this because people from other parts if the country are bringing their caravan / mobile home to the seaside areas for the lockdown. This is nowhere near comparable with the situation asked in the OP.

'everyone' would find an excuse if there were any exemptions - are we all incapable of understanding that additional needs means what it says then?