Trying to stop DS1 going for car doors

[loueytb3]

Its driving me mad. Every bloody car we go past he lunges at the door. I spend my life telling him that all the cars are locked. He repeats and then still goes for them. We can't let go of him because he will literally sprint for the nearest car, even if its across a busy road.

Nursery/early years team have suggested getting a PEC made up with a picture of a car door and a red cross over it. I did have some PECS a while ago but can't find the websites I looked at then. I have a car PEC but its a very basic picture and I'm not sure it will do the trick. We may also need more than one for the childminder to use. Anyone have any good links to free PECs which are likely to have car/car door pictures, or any other suggestions?

Its frustrating as he is otherwise fairly bright but this is proving impossible to crack at the moment.

car door and hand getting crushed awful i know but with my DS ive found some things ive had to explain explicitly how he can really get hurt(i know thats probably not the main real reason you dont want him to do it) but for eg my dc jumps off things no matter how high and can take the safety plugs out and has been known to stick things in to see how electricity works he did that one when they did science a few months back he has absolutely no fear or understanding of danger and runs into the road too i dont like to put fear into them not the most ideal but like with the electricity one as he can get the safety plugs out what else can you do ive done pecs and he still does these things , he has a working memory problem so i think retaining the infos a problem

Google do2learn maybe?

Can the nursery team not help ? At ds's old nursery,they made up and laminated symbols for school and home

Alongside the PECS, can you read a Social Story with him?

Sort of:

All cars have doors. I like to play with the handles.

It is ok to play with the handles on Mummy's car. It is ok to play with the handles on Daddy's car.

Other people may not like it if I play with their car door handle. I may set the car alarm off. People may think I am stealing the car and call the police.

I will only play with the handles on Mummy and Daddy's cars.

hanaka - thanks, that website looks really useful

purple - we haven't done social stories yet so its all a bit new to me. He's still at preschool and I think they don't generally introduce them until school age. How do they work, do you just make them up and keep repeating them? It may be that the language is still too complicated for him.

betty - sounds very similar to my DS. He knows that things are dangerous but it doesn't seem to register with him what that means. Having said that, he doesn't play with the oven as much as he used to and will say that its very hot. Maybe its just repetition that is needed? I will be so glad when he develops a sense of danger.

intothewest - I might ask the nursery if I get stuck. Our childminder has a laminator so if I can find the right pictures then she can do the laminating for me.

Google what other people have done but I don't see why they wouldn't work with littlies? As long as you keep it simple and reinforce with the PECS and lots and lots and lots of repetition, it'll either work or it won't - just like any strategy!

Social Stories aren't exactly stories, they're more of a "what to do in this situation" type message. Stick to short sentences and include lots of positives, example sentences would be:

I like to ...
Sometimes I do ...
This means that ...
It's ok to ...
Other people do ...