locators, bracelets, clothing labels, etc

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our recently diagnosed 4 yr old aspie has a tendency to wander off if we arent really careful. we do a bit of camping in the summer as well as geocaching often in wooded areas. last summer while camping i put bells on his shoes so i could hear where he was at all times. this year i'd like to be more prepared. so i was wondering what some of you have done in regards to this type of thing. what i am thinking is something that identifies who he is, his autism status, and our names, address and phone numbers. this would be for camping as well as every day trips to the store, etc.

essentially we are looking at two issues, how to locate him if he wanders off, and how to help others locate us if they find him.

im interested in anyones experience with these types of things. medic id bracelets, clothing tags, etc. we are also looking into one of those child locator devices if anyone has used those before.

thanks for any information =)

Having information on him about who he is, addresses and phone number is a great idea. The phone number should be a cell phone, and you should carry that same cellphone while away at activities. It won't do to have someone trying to contact you at your home phone while you are away!

Why would strangers, encountered while lost, need to know about the autism? I'm not sure there is any advantage to this, and there may be some disadvantages.

There are prepaid phones that have GPS locators.. I would recommend a medical alert bracelet as well.. In additio0n, you might want to carry around a set of pre-printed pictures iin case the unthinkable happens. If the kid refuses to keep the cell phone with him, it can be sewn into a pocket or something.

I have bracelets on my kids. I put a stuffed animal back pack like thing with a leash attached (monkey tail) on my 5 year old Autie when we are in crowded places like airports.

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This is the only electronics I see out there:
http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/child-locator.html

Im afraid those alarm things would scare the heck out of my daughter ! I keep her pretty close to me anyway because she is trusting of adults because shes had so much therapy with different people, she thinks everyone is there to play with her. Plus shes not very verbal....gotta watch her all the time because she will get distracted by something and take off. She good about riding in shopping carts and holding my hand but I worry when my hands are full and there is a lot of people around.

The electronic bug you place on the child does not make any noise. The receiver the adult carries can be set to alarm if the child goes outside of the set radius. It is always a good idea to keep kids close when you are in a crowd. I used to wander for miles when I was small.

During a large family picnic held at a campground many years ago, "in a pinch" I put neon "glow bracelets" and a "necklace" on dd as it got dark. That way I could at least see her as she wandered around the group and area.

Obviously the best option is to hold the child's hand when anywhere they could wander. Next best is allowing freedom only in an enclosed, safe-to-roam area, and keeping a fixed eye when unable to do so. I know there are times a child just gets away from you, but my main concern with having a device is that the parent might become too trusting of it, and slacken up attention when it could and should be given. A device is a back plan; be careful it does not become "the" plan. If you are concerned about your child getting lost during an activity, you have to ask if it is an appropriate activity to be doing with that child. Remote locations have dangers far beyond just temporary miss-placement. Beyond that ... no idea on where to get something. My mom used a harness with my son when he was a toddler and under her care, but I figured I could run after him when needed ... which worked until I was nine months pregnant But I never took him camping at that age; just too much for me to handle with him.

I have a button for my child that reads"

Hi, I have Autism and don't talk much. If you find me by myself, please see the back for my parents contact information" (my name and cell number are on the back of the button).

I don't think that it is bad that people know that he has autism when I am in a crowded situation. If he is lost - he will have trouble verbalizing and this gives people (including security personnel/police) a heads up. Even if he doesn't get lost - people with a general, lay persons knowledge of autism will often be more patient with him when they see his little button.

I agree with a previous respondent - always carry an up-to-date picture. I also take a cell phone photo of my children each day. This way, I've got a up-to-the-minute photo showing them with their clothes and everything exactly as they would look.

Although my son has clothing issues (he likes only sweaters). I try to dress him in bright colours and have clothes that are highly noticeable (without looking weird). His favourite is a red polar fleece sweater. This makes him easy to spot. I liked the idea of using glow-in-the-dark items for evenings/nights.

I took my kids camping to a lakefront property. They were 18 months and 3 1/2 at the time. During the day, I put a life jacket on my kids - not the really bulky ones - but a life preservers. THIS DID NOT DETER ME FROM KEEPING A VERY, VERY CLOSE EYE ON THEM AT ALL TIMES. The life jackets were back up, not replacement for proper supervision. The life jacket would just make it easier to pull the child, that I am supervising closely, out of the water as I would have something visible to grab onto immediately.

When travelling, I make sure that the hotel doors can be latched in a way that my kid can't open it. If this is not possible, there are little alarms that can be purchased so that an alarm will go off if the door is opened. I know I have seen these advertised, maybe someone knows a website that has them??

That button idea is awesome. We go camping a lot in summer, with our 3yr old I lost him once (turned to tie up DD shoe laces) for about 2 minutes, longest 2 minutes ever , an old lady came back with him.
I never let him out of my sight now from when he wakes until I know he is asleep. Which is tiring, but what about this life is there that isn't?

thanks for the input =)

the glow jewelry, yup, last year i used glow eye glasses, kids loved them.
the button, thats a good idea and i will pick up a button kit.
harnesses we dont use. he has serious issues with being restrained. its like a cat on a leash.
we hold hands, but he cant handle that for long periods. again, restraint issues hes had since an infant.
cell phone picture! awesome, i will start doing that. especially good for my goldfish memory, cant remember what clothes i put on him this morning.

thanks for the link to the locator! i was hoping to hear from people who have used them on whether they found them to work well as we have no personal experience with them. ill need to check out reviews for various ones i think.

@Willard,
i read both your posts before they were deleted/erased. im not sure how you find it necessary or even acceptable to be so rude and malicious with your postings. never did i say our son has wandered off in the woods. please refrain from your unhelpful and contemptuous offerings of "advice".

my son is a high functioning, happy, active, intelligent, and curious child. we provide him with a safe and loving home and family. we also recognize that he needs to explore to grow. that means we dont trap him in the shopping cart every time we go to the store (most of the time hes in it happily playing his ds, sometimes hes out).

that also means when we go camping, he is not tied to a tree like a dog. he runs and jumps and explores like his brothers. we will choose a site with him in mind, away from traffic and water, with lots of open space and preferably close to a playground. we make the experience as safe as we can while still letting him have the experience.

as for the bells, as a busy mom ive always made sure i know where my children are and what they are doing by listening with my ears as well as watching with my eyes. you simply cannot be looking at one child 100% of the time when youve got others to watch, dinner to make, laundry to fold, etc. the bells just make their movements louder, so if a child is playing in the tent, or on the other side of the car, i can still hear them well enough to know exactly where they are.

i am simply looking for proactive preventative measures to ensure my sons safety, and the opinions of others who may have used them. we do the basics now that most parents do, but im smart enough to realize sometimes thats not enough.

With respect to the original post from Willard, you need to understand that you are posting with AS adults on this forum, and they tend not to mince words when they get upset. I hope Willard won't mind me sharing this (pm me if you do, Willard, and I'll edit) but a friend of his lost a child in a wander off type of situation. He felt you needed the wake up. My job as a moderator was to tell him that his way of doing so wasn't effective or appropriate, and he chose to remove the content of his post, even though my preference would have been for him to share his thoughts and reasons in a more tactful way. He wasn't without a point, hard as it can be to hear.

I know we all as parents have to chose a balance between letting our kids live life, and keeping them safe. But I hope you will remember that your child can do things when he is older that he cannot do now, and it is always worth considering if maybe the experience should be held off for a while until the child has gained more of the skills needed to protect himself. When we find ourselves looking for back up safety measures because of a situation we choose to put our kids in, and not one that is inherent to life, you do have to ask if you are making the right choice. We have parents here who can't keep their kids safe in a locked private home without worrying about them escaping and wandering, much less a tent in the woods; you get all levels.

I posted that I never considered taking my son camping when he was 4. I didn't, and looking back I still wouldn't. But my daughter had her first camping experience when she was 3, and my son was 7. Different child; different considerations. My son is almost 13 and now practically lives outdoors. The deferral didn't deny him anything; it just kept him safe until he was ready. I wouldn't tether a child camping; I would rather not go camping. I mentioned the tether because it was something my son didn't mind with his grandma, who was not able to run after him in perfectly normal and necessary day to day situations.

I don't walk in your shoes and will have to trust that you know your kids and are being careful in your decisions, but it never hurts to check in on our own thought process and make sure we really have covered all the bases.

i do know what as adults are like.... i live with one =) which, altho i didnt state it, is one of the reasons i want to cover every base i can. because as easy as it is for as kids to get distracted or lost in their own thoughts, it can also be easy for some as adults.

im sure lots of parents out there need wakeup calls, but they arent usually the ones looking for more ways to keep their kids safe. they are the ones who think their kids are already safe. we are lucky in that we dont have to worry about our son at home. hes a homebody and doesnt try to escape (altho we still have safeguards in place to prevent it). its only when out in the world that we have to be vigilant.

i dont think i ever considered not taking him camping =) i suppose because he is just as capable as my other kids, just with some accommodations, none of which preclude camping. his first camping trip he was 18 months old, of course it was only overnight back then. last summer when he was 3 our longest trip was 4 nights/5 days. some of our camping trips revolve around geocaching events, which are basically big social events with other campers and using gps technology to find hidden stashes. they are good learning experiences and great socialization opportunities.

heres a link for those wireless window/door alarms:
http://www.amazon.com/Handy-Trends-Inst ... 95&sr=1-51

lots of them available and pretty inexpensive. i have used these, not for safety tho, unless you mean safety of christmas presents and easter bunnies =P we have one on our bedroom door, we set it when we have holiday/birthday things to hide. they are very loud and my kids hate the sound of them, so they are very effective. i wouldnt trust them to keep my kids safely in the house but they are a good alert system to let you know when a child is opening a door they shouldnt.