A comfortable chair for DS with ASD

[Kendrickspenguin]

My lovely DS1 is 12 years old. He has various diagnoses including ASD and LD. He is about 5 foot 4 inches tall. He constantly rocks and bounces on our sofas. He has made a massive hole in our new sofa. It has already been repaired once. The man who repaired it was muttering about kids jumping on them last time. I am not sure how many times we can get it fixed before it is beyond repair.

We realize that he gets comfort and sensory feedback from the rocking and bouncing. He needs to be able to sit comfortably in our living room. We can not afford to buy new sofas every few months.

He is a good boy, so if he is asked to stop he will. However, it takes all his concentration not to move around. As soon as he is watching television, listening to music or otherwise distracted he starts bouncing and rocking again.

Does anyone have any suggestions for chairs or sofas that would be comfortable for him, but would stand up to his movement better.

Thank you

The ikea klippan is supposed to be pretty tough - and it’s cheap.

Less cheap - might the nugget suit? nuggetcomfort.com/

Your DS sounds like a sweetie by the way.

How about getting him his own armchair?

Thank you so much for the suggestions.

orinocosfavouritecake, the nugget looks amazing. I think that is a definite possibility. Looking at it has made the internet show lots of other similar items too. That is so helpful, thank you. He is a lovely boy. As far as human beings go he is the best.

Bitofachinwag, that was my first thought. We have a BHF furniture shop very near to us. I could buy him his own armchair from there. However, I think he would break it within a few weeks to the extent that it would be uncomfortable to sit in.

If you're able to get reasonably priced second hand one you could just keep replacing them (although that might get annoying and time consuming! )

I think that is DH's preferred option. He thinks he could fit an armchair into the boot of his estate car to get it to the tip. It also takes away the risk of paying a lot of money for something which turns out to not be comfortable for DS. DS will enjoy choosing something either way. Thank you for your responses, I am very good at turning a tiny decision into a huge deal if left to my own devices.

is it worth trying an IKEA poang? I'm not sure if it would last, but they're not too expensive and they're designed to bounce.

They look good Jamnation. I will show DS and see what he thinks. I have looked at rocking and swinging chairs too. I am unsure whether he wants a chair that moves with him, or whether he enjoys the sensory feedback he gets from bouncing against the chair. He is not able to explain to me. He loves Ant and Dec so he is happily bouncing along to Saturday Night Takeaway as I type.

Would something like the attached pic suit him? It might not be quite what you had in mind but it certainly allows bouncing. The pic is of a small one but you can get large versions suitable for up to 135kg.

My other thought was a wooden rocking chair if the rocking would meet his needs.