Up until recently, we couldn’t leave a glass or mug within Aidan’s reach. It’s not that he purposefully meant to break them, but sensory seeker that he is, as soon as he saw a tiny bit of liquid in one, he had to put his whole hand in it! This enthusiastic exploration of a vessel and its contents often resulted in spills all over the house. One or two glasses got knocked over, but thankfully didn’t break. If we weren’t always two steps behind him, I feel there may have been more accidents than there have been! We are eagle-eyed whenever he goes on a little wander around. We have to be because he doesn’t have any sense of danger, even at almost four years old. He will reach for knives, kitchen scissors, glass items, and the cutlery from place settings at the dining room table. Basically, anything he sees of interest! Because he rarely takes basic instructions from us like “no”, “stop”, “don’t” or “that’s enough”, we’ve put a lot of time and energy into teaching him the meaning of the word, “danger!” Any time he fell or tripped over, we drew attention to the incident and said, “danger!”. We were hopeful that the association between the accident and the word would teach him to be careful when he heard it. After slipping by walking into a wet shower, knocking into our coffee table, and falling off a seat a few times because he wasn’t being mindful of where the edge was, he did seem to pick up what the word meant. And so every time he reached towards something he shouldn’t touch, we reiterated it. 

Now, he will rarely touch a glass or a mug unless he’s in a very mischievous mood! It has somewhat lessened the load of safety precautions we need to run at all times, which we are quite thankful for. Because the mental load of keeping a child on the spectrum safe, is quite heavy! There are so many potential risks to keep in mind at all times, and so many unanticipated items of interest that could capture his imagination in any given environment. I feel like a SWAT leader, sometimes – always scanning the scene for potential liabilities! Aidan’s brain is regularly hijacked by his sensory seeking or a singleminded desire to do this, or go there, so silly things like important instructions from his parents tend to fall on deaf ears, as he acts completely on impulse. The only thing that really works is active prevention or intervention! And the consistent reinforcement of the concept of danger, or of needing to be cautious with something. It’s just exhausting, honestly! Especially when he’s in the mood to get into things he shouldn’t – opening cupboards in the kitchen, reaching up to tabletops or countertops, opening the cutlery drawer, standing up on the sofa or coffee table, pulling out plugs, fiddling around with fin oil heaters, trying to touch the lit braai, or trying to climb up on the windowsill! There are weekends where we are just racing to keep up with him as he dismantles our house room by room, and board by board. This big little man definitely keeps us on our toes! 

So though this new development of his being able to ignore glasses of water or juice around the house sounds small, it’s actually pretty huge for us! I am wondering though if it will translate to other people’s houses, since Aidan is heavy on associations and can sometimes only meet certain demands within very specific settings. We are off to a Mexican Fiesta at my sister-in-law’s new house next weekend! There are bound to be glasses, chopping boards, and knives aplenty around the kitchen, as they prepare to host 30 people or so. I will be very curious to see how Aidan does within a brand new environment, and around things we’ve taught him not to touch.