Family Fund - should I apply?

[Lunafreya]

Hi everyone,

I have a DS aged 3 with suspected ASD. As I have posted in a previous thread, he doesn't sleep very well at night. He takes a long time to settle, and then gets up in the very early hours to do what I believe to be 'stimming'. He repeatedly kicks the floor, opens and slams his door, the wardrobe and his toybox. No amount of putting him back to bed seems to work, and he's endangering himself by climbing to flick the light switch on and off, etc. I have tried several locks for the wardrobe, all of which have been broken off, so his clothes continuously end up all over the floor, and he's snapping the plastic hangers by pulling the clothes off.

I have Googled for potential ideas to lessen this, and came across 'tents' that go over the bed, to provide the child with a safe and secure space at night. I can't seem to find too many options, and they're expensive, so I have a few questions:

Has anyone ever used something like this, and had any success?

Would the Family Fund approve an application for it? (I have checked the criteria and my family appears to meet a lot).

Failing that, is there a cheaper option that anyone could recommend?

I've not had any experience with the tent but your ds sounds very similar to mine at that age.

My ds managed to work out all the locks/kids safety things that we put in place! Amazing what they can achieve when their mind is set on one thing.

We ended up taking most of the furniture out of his room. We screwed the chest of drawers to the wall in a position where he couldn't reach the light switch. Now we just slightly unscrew the bulb, so even if he reaches the switch it doesn't work.
We used foam door things on the top of the door to stop him slamming it and a rubber stopper to stop him banging it into the wall. We also put in some high shelves and put pretty much all of his stuff out of reach.
The clothes on the floor took a while but eventually he understood that he was the one that had to tidy them up.

My ds is really good in his room now, at 3 he was unbelievably destructive. He's 4.5 years old. A lot of the things your ds is doing will hopefully be a phase. I remember how unbelievably frustrating it was at the time but I'm sure he will get through it.

Also I don't know what the tent is like but I would be very wary if there are any removable poles (very easily used as a weapon!).

Worth applying.

They have “approved suppliers” for most things so will provide a voucher for the amount of the award.

Your DS sounds very similar to mine, who is also 3. We have been told to apply for a family fund but we have not thought of anything yet that will help DS' needs.

I think your choice will very likely be approved as it will be directly benefiting your DS and his sleep. You can apply for 3 things the first time too.

Yes apply! At worst, they can only say no.
Also consider applying for DLA

Hi op, I had the wardrobe issue with ds when he was younger. We screwed a hasp to his wardrobe and placed a padlock on it. Might not look great but solved the issue.