CodeName: Houdini
Regular seat belt? Just a few minutes.
Five point harness? A little over an hour.
Modified five point harness? Less than an hour.
So, how do you keep a child in their safety seat when they can watch you strap them in once and then completely reverse your work in a matter of minutes? Answer: You can't.
Our little butterfly has definitely showed us that when she puts her mind to something, there is no stopping her. She's almost too smart for her own good. In a few cases, with trying to come up with creative ways to stop her from getting out of her seat, it's taken us longer to strap her in, then it did for her to get out.
At first glance it can all seem pretty harmless. She stands at the back of the bus, waving to the cars behind her, smiling and giggling when they wave back. Of course, the reality is, it's dangerous. If there was ever an accident, she'd get seriously injured... and then there is the issue with her popping open the emergency hatch.
Our last resort, before the last-last resort was to try a contraption that I wasn't really all that comfortable with. I kept telling myself that it was for her safety, and in the end that's all that really matters. Which is true, but strapping her into this... thing... that almost looks like a sleeveless straitjacket, just made me weary. There are zippers and hooks and clips and straps and on the seat of the bus, there are four points where she gets hooked in. She can't move to get out, but she also can't move at all.
She seemed to like the actual harness. It was snug, and she likes things that 'hug' her, but once strapped in, her inability to move, even a little, wasn't something she was okay with, but... we gave it a try.
This thing is said to be 'inescapable', so we had high hopes that this would teach her that she's not allowed to get up and run around the bus, but the first day home, she'd gotten the bottom two buckles undone. By the second day, she's gotten out entirely, going so far as to figure out how to unzip the harness, that was zipped IN THE BACK.
I still don't know how she did it.
A common misconception when it comes to children with autism is that they're some how less intelligent, or they're 'slow'. Well, ask any parent who has their own little Houdini if they'd agree with those statements. They'd give you a loud, resounding 'NO'.
Baby gates, with the most intricate locking systems are unlocked before you get downstairs. Window and door alarms are turned off with the long arm of a broom, or anything else they find to flip the switch. Seat belts, restraints... whatever you want to call them. Useless.
I've seen Bella open a door, protected with top notch doorknob covers faster then most people can open them without the cover! She seems to figure out how to get around child safety measures faster then the adults can.
So... our last-last resort is to add another aide to her list of helpers. A bus aide, whose sole job will be to ride the bus to and from school with her just to make sure she stays in her seat.
While we, her parents, and her teachers, and the school and even the DOT are concerned with her safety, the only thing Miss Bella has to say about it? She hates the harness cause she can't wave to her 'friends'.
Here's Miss Bella showing off her new bus harness. She enjoyed wearing it, until we actually had to put her on the bus with it. It took her two days to figure out how to escape from the 'inescapable harness'.
