Providing Security and Safety for an Autistic Child?

JHDrexler asks: "I have read Slashdot for several years and often find topics/posts about security to be especially interesting, enlightening, educational, and sometimes entertaining. I consider myself to be fairly well educated and experienced when dealing with and enforcing security. But the situation that I am forced to deal with is, at its core, the basic fundamental reason for the requirement of security, but at such an unbelievable extreme that it has perplexed everyone that I have asked for assistance. While most security systems are designed to keep the un-trusted out. My application requires keeping the un-trusted out, while also keeping the un-trusted in and robust enough that the trusted users cannot break it." JHDrexler has three children, one of whom is autistic and tends to get into trouble. Could some form of system be developed (on a budget) that would be easy to use for the non-autistic children, yet restrictive enough to keep the autistic child from getting out, and possibly harming himself?

"Here is the issue. I have three children and a very loving, hard-working wife at home. My oldest child is a nine-year-old girl, and then I have my eight-year-old Autistic son, and then my five-year-old son. The eight-year-old presents the challenge. If you can imagine a two-year-old mentality in an eight-year-old body then you will begin to understand the issues that we face. This child is intelligent and determined, but he doesn't talk and he doesn't understand us when we talk to him. He doesn't understand fear and he doesn't understand pain. I have seen him play in the snow for twenty minutes, barefoot before we realized he had gotten out of the house. His only complaint was that we made him come back into the house to warm him up. The security in my house needs to be done in such a way that my nine and five-year-old can get in and out, without compromising the security in such a way that the eight-year-old can get out. I also need to do this on my own. Our efforts to get assistance from our local government agencies have failed.

We have tried chains, but he just unlatches them. We have tried keys but the kids (nine- and five-year-olds) either leave them where he can reach them, or they lose them when they need to use them. We have tried keypads, but he ate the buttons off of the first one that we bought. The new one had plastic buttons but after two weeks we found that he would look over the five-year-old's shoulder and read the code as he punched it in. The other two kids mean well and they understand, but let's face it, they are typical users. If the security is too hard to deal with, they won't. They won't close the door if they have to find a key to open it again. Besides, these kids need a life too and I cannot put the responsibility of the Autistic child's safety on these kids. It's too great of a burden and they are just kids. I need a solution that is transparent enough that they can live with it and robust enough that he can't break it. The keypads worked great but are just too easy for the Autistic kid to defeat.

I have looked into biometrics but everything that I have found only locks one direction and was expensive. I need something that will lock in both directions and can be done with less then two weeks pay. I am really hoping that someone here will have a creative, effective, and realistic solution that I can get running in a reasonable amount of time. My wife is pulling her hair out and will have a nervous breakdown soon if something doesn't happen.

I sincerely thank you for your time, your efforts and your ideas."

Comments

Re:A dog

[aridhol]

Damn...my mod points expired yesterday (unused) :(

I think this looks like the best solution I've seen so far. Get a shepherd breed of dog, who's training and instinct will make it herd the child into a limited area.

Or you can get an akita and train it to "protect" your autistic child.

Good luck.