special needs child sleeping downstairs .

[ichangedmymindagain]

my 15year old son who has DS is recently refusing to got upstairs to bed . This is now proving very difficult as even with my partner helping it is very difficult to get him upstairs . He is 5ft and weights over 10st,so sooner or later we are going to do some damage to our backs (we have to carry him up to get him upstairs )
So does any other family have the situation were your special needs child sleeps downstairs , away from the main sleeping area. We can convert our dinning room(we already have a dwonstairs shower room with toilet ) and if it works well having him downstairs maybe build a small exstention .
I am worried about him being downstairs , but as he keeps refusing to go upstairs , is increasing , this may be our only option.

Hi ichangedmymindagain,we are probably in a slightly differant position to you in the fact that my dd cant go upstairs due to profound disability.She used to be carried upstairs but we had an extesion built with a bedroom and bathroom unfortunatly we could not get help for this so we had to bite the bullet.The help can come from the council with the disabilities facilities grant.It does take forever though.I agree to start with it felt uneasy having our daughter sleeping downstairs but we us baby monitors and cctv so we can see and hear her.

why are you worried about him being downstairs? I mean I know you'll be further away from you, but does he need you at night or anything?

Thanks for replying , GB, was thinking of putting in the cctv and baby monitors ,so i can see and hear what he is up too , my main worries about him being downstairs are that if there was a fire ,he wouldnt be able to help himself to get out also as he tends to get up and wander about ,what he may get up to downstairs . yes Tabulahrasa im up at night with him most nights , he doesnt sleep well , wanders around , cries out etc . I can get over these things , its just the safety aspect ,i suppose , having him on a different floor to me , am i being to sensitive ?

yeh we feel like this too.We have put in fire alarms and we have patio doors and bathroom window.You can really only do your best.You're not being over sensitive as a said we felt exactly the same.Unfortuntely you have added worry because your son wanders around-sorry i can't help with that one.

Hi there, my son is 6.5 years and wouldnt sleep upstairs or would only sleep if i was "guarding" him (his words). I rent so the easiest option i found was to hunt for a bungalow to rent in our village, it took over a year but it has helped enormously! Not only does he not have to traipse up/down the stairs for the loo every half hour (medical reasons), he will now sleep in the bedroom alone knowing im only next door in the living room Now ive just gota hope the landlord doesnt want to sell up, although he did tell me it was a very long term let so fingers crossed im here for a good few years.

Hi there, If you're worried about fire, ring your local station. They will have a vulnerable person's register. You can explain to them where your son sleeps and his issues. Once registered, if ever a 999 call comes from your house they are aware of the issues and know they have to get to your son 1st. HTH xx

DS (cp) moved downstairs on his 10th birthday. We too had the same misgivings, feeling that he was a bit vulnerable. We first used a walkie talkie system so he could call us if he wanted - now he's 16 we have a wireless doorbell that he can push and it dingdongs in our room (less chance of us overhearing him on his phone).
Last year we had the chance of having a lift fitted and DS was very into it. However, when it emerged that he had no intention of actually sleeping upstairs but saw the lift as a means to get to his sister's bedroom to see what CDs etc she had pinched off him, we gave up on the lift.

thanks everyone ,for your words , Shaz298, that comforting knowing that there is such a thing and if a fire should break out he would be helped (i pray that we never need to use the service)
springlamb , my son has poor speech and so him calling up isnt possible , but i would look at ways such as using a baby alarm , door bell is a great idea though.
Brandy77, i hope that you get to stay for many years in your home , change is never good for children like ours and if you have found a solution that works then its good for both of you . We as a family have decided that our lad is better off downstairs , for our health and maybe his independants , it was a difficult desicion for me though.

hi ,we have a son who doesn,t sleep well and has medical needs,he doesn,t sleep downstairs at the moment ,but have just found a product call a motion sensor alarm matt in a special needs catalogue called QED,they have lots of different alarms for movement.this paticular one can be placed on the floor by his bed,or put in the doorway,so alerting you to him being up and about,they are quite expensive,but maybe worth a look,have a webpage you can see them on,just google QED.Hope you find a solution.xx