Dd2 ASD and climbing the furniture.

[Marne]

Dd2 has always been a bit of a climber but recently its getting out of hand and dangerous, she keeps on climbing onto the TV cabinet (which is 1m+ high) and then stands up between the TV and the edge of the cabinet, she climbs onto the side boards and trys to get pictures off of the walls.

I keep getting her down, saying 'no' or 'get down', she just repeats what i say and carries on climbing. I can't leave her on her own for a second as she's so fast at climbing onto the TV cabinet and i'm worried she's going to hurt herself.

I spend all days saying 'no' and 'get down' to her but she seems to think its a game. Any ideas how i can teach her to stay down?

No ideas, I'm afraid but sympathies, DD (also probable ASD) is exactly the same, it's very wearing.

Probably linked to sensory problems the child has -

1. find really good things for the child to climb. They aren't doing it to be naughty; they are doing it because they need the sensory feedback that climbing gives them.

1. child proof your house while this phase lasts - take the pictures down, put the TV on the floor, scatter more cushions for soft landings.

1. Give them other 'heavy work' to do which will meet those same needs - a game involving carrying a heavy bag or rucksack, for example.

1. meet those sensory needs for them yourself - making a game out of firmly squeezing their feet/hands/wherever-they-like will give them the sensory feedback they are needing

hope something here helps.

Thanks ommmward, the funny thing is, if i take her to a park with a climbing frame she's not interested , she struggles to climb the ladder on the slide at nursery yet she can climb the furniture. Our sitting room is almost empty (just the tv,pc, tv cabinet, side board and sofa) we have had not ornaments for 3 years . I will try giving her 'heavy work' and do more squeezing her hands, feet etc..(she likes this).

Oh ds was like this! Agree with Ommmward. Try and make one room that is safe to leave her in for a short while such as bedroom (cuboards screwed to walls, windows covered in protective laminate etc). We rigged up a cheap web camera to watch for unexpected problems! (A web camera is also useful for supervising without giving attention if they get to understand TO.) Until there is something the child does not like it is hard to get the word 'no' across. Ds seemed to like stern mummy lifting him down and saying no! The most powerful thing for ds was ignoring him ('no' -dump on boring floor, and turn back on him/ or refuse eye contact) but it took a while for ds to learn to avoid and of course ignoring is difficult if the child is mountaineering! Ds needed lots of rough and tumble play - tickling, chasing after him, playing peepo, hide and seek, general physical play.

I am feeling your pain and wearniness of not being able to turn your back for a second, DD 2.2 (maybe ASD) is a constant danger to herself and loves to climb, at the moment we keep finding her on the top bunk despite the ladder being removed.
Also have to keep all my widows locked as we are on a second floor.
I am hoping it will pass soon before she hurts herself.

Marne - I know the feeling ds 5.5 loves to climb and jump, hang upside down, fall intentionally etc, my understanding was it is sensory seeking to do with the proprioceptive and vestibular sense.

He has killed the nerves in his two front teeth and had stitches in his face from falling and we had to move house because the house was on a hill and had a split level garden, 10 foot drop.

Any activities that include stretching, bundling and deep pressure, big hugs, jumping (trampolines are brilliant if you have room), marching around the room stomping, rocking.

Hope some of this might help.

Sympathy - DD1 is the same (Brain malformation, GDD)

mine are the same (two are probably ASD but one is NT) and we just let them. I agree with the idea of childproofing a room or two. We screwed all bookcases, cabinets etc to the walls, bought a big CRT TV on e-bay (as you can climb on these without breaking them) and put sofas, chairs strategically around the room to break any falls. Then we left them too it and surprisingly none of them did fall badly - yes lots of black eyes, bumps etc but they do seem to have some inbuilt mechinism for knowing when it really is too high.