Doing LFT on a SEN child

[sunnyfields25]

Hi all

Does anyone have any tips for doing a LFT on a 4-year-old child with sensory processing difficulties (and possibly autism).

Previous PCR tests have been horrible and involved pinning DS in his car seat while he cries and thrashes around. Now school have requested that we do regular LFTs as there are numerous cases in DS's year.

We've tried every bribe we could think of in the past and it didn't work. I read somewhere about trying to do it while they're asleep - I can't tell if that's a genius idea or if it could end extremely badly

Any ideas much appreciated!

Do you have the nose only ones?
I didn't think you needed to do regular LFTs on primary aged children so maybe just don't do them or do them less often

I work in preschool and I know a few parents that have done them while their child is asleep, just up the nose.
Although I'm surprised school are asking four year olds to do them regularly.

We have had to do the distract and hold / pin. We have to do haircuts while he’s asleep! Our son is profoundly autistic / learning disabled and very strong. He did listen and tried his best to tolerate it though. Just did up the nose very quickly with a regular PCR and that was enough to show positive.
I would just try to get it done as quick as poss (same with injections etc) as the fleeting distress is outweighed by health needs.
Good luck!

I would not be doing regular LF's on my 4 year old. We've decided not to Ted tours anymore. I'm very surprised the schools has asked that. Just don't do them it's cruel. And if no benefit

Distract and count to five for each nostril ds has to hold my hand while I do it in extreme cases I pinch his nose so its less of a tickling sensation

Yes you do need to them each day if a close contact. Do it when asleep and quickly! I work in SEN school that's our advice to parents having difficulty.

I have a, severely autistic 15 year old. I managed a pcr by stealth once, after playing a cotton bud tickling game. He did not let me do it the next time it was needed.

I declined to consent to him doing lfts at school and don't attempt them at home. I have assured his school that I will test myself regularly, since I'm the one who goes into shops and mixes - he would only catch it from me, or from school.

I'd agree with PPs saying don't do them. You have to weigh up the potential wider benefit against the risk of really upsetting (and potentially traumatising) your very young child. I'd suggest it's not worth it. I also have a child with SEN who cannot bear the tests. We travelled abroad recently and had to take PCRs. Managed to find some saliva tests (child spits in test tube) but I'm not aware of LFTs which use saliva and the PCRs were pricey.

I can't get anywhere near DS face (just turned 3) and have decided it's cruel and not worth it. Especially given the official guidance in Scotland doesnt count kids under 11 as close contacts in a nursery setting 🤨.

Personally I'd just regularly test yourself and leave it at that.

In Spain the PCRs were done by chewing a piece of ?cotton for 5 minutes, would that work.

The government website says regular LFTs aren't recommended for under 5s but I understand why the school is asking. I presume they're classing all the children as contacts and want to stop it spreading like wildfire.

I want to do the right thing and help them, plus from a more selfish point of view I want to keep my loved ones safe - my parents often help with childcare and although they're vaccinated I don't want to expose them to risk unnecessarily.

But, it was so traumatic for DS last time and I just don't know if I can put him through it again. I want to try the sleep approach tomorrow night if I can catch him in a deep sleep, but DH isn't keen on the idea. But the alternative is pinning him down!

Quite simply, don't.
I have an 11yo with sensory processing issues and i really won't put him through it unless he has symptoms. I'm quite happy to test myself every day if need be, but I'm not going to hold him down and risk damaging his nose (he's also prone to nosebleeds).

My DS doesn't have quite so many issues (but some sensory ones) and is 11, but after a full year of us exempting him from school tests, I have now managed to get him to put the cotton bud just inside one nostril. We get the test line but the rest of the rest stays a bit pink but it's the best I can do. Doing it in sleep doesn't work for us - I've tried to give him nasal drops in his sleep and he sits bolt upright and wakes up!

He did get a positive test with Delta but we paid for him to do a saliva test with a private company which obviously isn't feasible on a regular basis.

My 11 year old has asd and has just tested positive. It’s always been a nightmare getting him to do tests and there’s no way I’d be doing them regularly. When we needed do ive managed to get him to do just the nose ones (or the mouth and nose ones just on nose) and he hasn’t pushed it as far up his nose as you are supposed to, I didn’t think they’d work as we couldn’t put far enough into his nose but the lateral flow came back very strong positive straight away and pcr also as positive

Just mentioning this as you could possibly do without waking him if you didn’t push in so far

My son is a little older at 10 but still the same issues. We had covid in December so hoping that means we won't have test for a while but not holding my breath.

Covid tests have been hell for him. He screams and screams like we are torturing him. He's had to do a few pcrs. It was taking us an hour or two in the drive thru tests so we avoid that. If needs a pcr we will order one to do at home which is still bad but more manageable.

In the end we had Ds sit on dp's lap. Dp had his arms around Ds so he couldn't push me out the way or hit or grab the swab and I just quickly done it. Not easy as he was thrashing his head around and trying to kick me.

The swabs were probably never that thorough but we got a positive by a very quick short nose swab...

If your child has no symptoms I don't think they can force testing. I'm not saying not testing is the right thing to do as many children are asymptomatic (my youngest was) but ele don't realise how traumatic testing a sen is!

When their was a case back in the summer in DS's class, still when whole classes needed to isolate we were told to get a pcr test. I refused as was isolating anyway. He didn't get any symptoms in that time.

Don't do them, especially if it's just for monitoring. I'm part of a parent support group locally and we get this query all the time. Testing is not legally compulsory in the UK, even with symptoms you can choose to isolate rather than test, so without symptoms we absolutely would not recommend routine testing on a child with protected characteristics, where it's already been proved that to do so causes significant distress and danger to the child and those around them.

Ds is15 and has severe autism. We test when he is in the mood for it but don't push it. We would never attempt a before school test as trying to do it that time of day is just asking for trouble. He is far too big for being in anyway forced so it it has to be distraction and bribery. He doesn't understand anything about covid so it cannot be explained to him.

Under 5s are exempt from having to daily tests when they’ve been in contact