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Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.

Original poster

special needs cot?

37 replies

geekgrrl · 30/12/2005 07:52

I need a proper cot for dd - she's 4.5 years old, and 3ft tall, big enough to climb out of a cot bed I think . She gets up several times every single bloody night and has done for two years now. There must be reasonably price huge cots out there??
Vallergan sort of worked for a while but she seems totally resistant to it now. We see a behavioural support nurse from the CDC who is lovely but hasn't come up with anything helpful. I'm so so so so so so fed up - it's been 7 years now since we last had decent sleep.
HELP.

OP posts:
sparklymieow · 30/12/2005 23:07

I have met the man who makes the things for Tomcat, and he is very helpful and can give a list of chartities that will fund his items

Original poster
geekgrrl · 31/12/2005 06:44

well, I rang SS who said they don't supply any equipment and that their computers were down and they'd ring me back regarding the DP - of course they didn't.
I like the Tomcat products website - the trikes are really cool. I'll send him an email regarding the cot.
The behavioural nurse from the CDC thinks that putting dd in a cot doesn't really solve anything and that we need to deal with the behaviour/manipulation properly. I do see her point, but I just think that surely it'll be so much easier in a couple of years when dd properly understands star charts, 'no TV if you get up' etc.
Dd has lately been adding to the nocturnal excitement by purposely pooing herself if I ignore her (she's locked into her room with a stairgate) and then taking her pull-up off as she doesn't like to sit in it. She doesn't smear it about on purpose but naturally manages to step in poo, get poo on her hand in the process of removing the pull-up etc which then goes everywhere else. Ah the joys!
At least if she was in a cot it would all be reasonably contained.

OP posts:
itllbelonelythisdavros · 31/12/2005 09:33

Its all very well saying you should deal with the behaviour, which I agree with, but you need to buy yourselves some time to do that AND have a little bit of peace in the meantime.

itllbelonelythisdavros · 31/12/2005 09:35

Actually, this is why I don't like dummies (oooer!). I think you should deal with the behaviour, possibly a tiny baby wanting a hug - aaah what's so bad about that? Or get to the stage where you teach the child that they won't get what they want rather than a substitute....... AND I had the most difficult, screaming baby you can ever imagine when DS was born, not realising at the time that he had ASD.

getbakainyourjimjams · 31/12/2005 15:26

Also I think that sleeping problems often sort themselves out once a child is calmed and unable to get up to anything. DS1's room has no lightbult (or he flicks it), and he is kept in (or he comes out and runs around the house), with that in place he is asleep by 8pm (in the winter, 10 pm in summer- needs it to be dark). Without that in place he is a loon and doesn;t settle until gone midnight. A lot of the testimonials on the safespace leaflet said the same thing (perhaps you should ask for one to show your behavioural worker woman). That oince the children were in an area they couldn't escape from or damage they settled down to sleep. Alternatively move to Salford- apparently social services fund safespaces there

itllbelonelythisdavros · 31/12/2005 18:27

I agree with that because having stuff around is just a prompt to get up and mess around with it. We put DS's light switch on the outside of the room and we used to make sure he couldn't get out. Due to all the mischief he had got up to in the past he had very little furniture in the room and he used to chuck things out of his room anyway (toys and furniture). I felt awful as it was a fairly bare cell but it worked. He'd have a few things he could do but nothing to stimulating and certainly not dangerous. That was some years ago. He now has a room with normal furniture (apart from the 2 matresses instead of a bed as he's broken 4) and he has a CD player, lamp, TV etc - things I could never have DREAMT of putting in his room some years ago. The light switch is still outside and he has a "shutter" on the window for safety but apart from that its pretty normal and he's fairly well trained to go to bed, stay there and go to sleep.... most nights!

SqueakyCat · 01/01/2006 21:45

can you find one 2nd hand?
I recently saw an ad for a 2nd hand full single-bed sized cot. They were asking few hundred for it, IIRC. Where are you?

Original poster
geekgrrl · 03/01/2006 13:16

squeaky, I've not seen any adverts for 2nd hand ones. I'm in N. Yorks.

OP posts:
SqueakyCat · 03/01/2006 13:41

It's a long way from you, then. I have no idea what it would cost to transport (!) but may be more cost effective than buying new.
If you're interested, I could see if I could find the ad again, and let you have the details. It was in a local newsletter.

SqueakyCat · 03/01/2006 13:51

It had been custom-built for their SN son.

Original poster
geekgrrl · 03/01/2006 14:15

squeaky, if you could CAT me the number I'd be very grateful.

OP posts:
matnanplus · 03/01/2006 22:04

Do you know any workworkers/carpenters to make you a cot that fitted a single mattress and had tall sides?

Also remembered in that special children programme that 'Selby' had a huge cot.

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