Autism and problems mesuring height

[eblondie]

Hi. I wondered whether anyone has any experience of a child who has a melt down over their height being measured... And how to get them through it. I know he will need to have his height measured in the parks so want to make this as easy as possible for him.

 

[SillyFamily]

I would start of practicing at home. Set up your own measurement stand. You could make a game of it. This way its nothing new different or scary. You might also change, it decorate it, or make it taller or shorter so that any differences arent a big deal.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I would strongly recommend Social Stories and practicing with something that will be over his head to get used to the sensation and actions. Maybe there are even youtube videos showing it so he can have a visual of what will happen.

 

[eblondie]

Thank-you. I'm so glad there are folks that understand I should add that my LO is 4 yrs old.

 

[SillyFamily]

If your little man likes taking pictures you could make it a photo op. He takes a picture of you you take one of him. That will give him something else to focus on and have him standing still.

 

[eblondie]

Unfortunately at the moment he hates having his photo taken. Hoping that will change

 

[Gorechick]

Is it possible you can have him measured once at Guest Relations and have his height recorded on a DAS card? That way ride operators wouldn't have to measure him every ride and it would be "official" coming from Guest Relations.

 

[lanejudy]

I also suggest checking the various heigh requirements for various rides -- and knowing exactly which ones he's tall enough to do. If he's right at the cut-off, therefore making it questionable, I'd skip that ride. I can imagine the ensuing meltdown if you make him stand for a measurement and only to get turned away!

Also keep in mind that people will measure taller earlier in the, and the body somewhat "slumps" in on itself as the day wears on; so he could measure 44" at 9:00am but only 43.5" that evening.

As to the suggestion above about measuring once at Guest Relations -- you can ask. However, unlike some theme parks I don't believe WDW will do height measurements at Guest Relations, it must be done at each ride individually and sometimes twice (as you enter the queue and again before boarding).

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[JillyBean1899]

It's too bad Disney doesn't do like Carowinds and Kings Dominion do, and have a height measuring station at the front of the park, and put on a wristband that is color coded to the height range the child falls in. Not only does it make it easy for the parents to see what rides a child can go on (the colors are on the map and the inches range are on the wristband), it prevents one ride attendant from being "nice" and letting a slightly too short child on one ride, and then having that child turned away when they visit later and get a different person measuring them.

Maybe this should start being suggested by people with children that don't like being measured.

 

[Gracie09]

They tried. People took the band off the correct height kid and put it on a too short sibling.

 

[sukhakuli]

Start talking to your tutors and see if they can start an ABA program for it. We've done that for trips before, when we knew he would encounter things that would bother him, we tried to extinguish the behavior before the trip in therapy.

Also, it's a good idea to make sure you have a good arsenal of coping mechanisms. For my son, it changed constantly what he needed, but they really help.

 

[bookwormde]

If you can it is always good to do a little detective work to find out the "why"

Often it is a sensory issue, but it can be other thinks like a social perception (of self) issue, a transition interruption issue and so forth.

Once you know the why, it is much easier to develop methodologies to normalize these types of skills.

 

[eblondie]

ABA program?
Firstly I don't think he understands the need for it and secondly he only allows people in his space on his terms.
I've already made a note of the height restrictions as I'm a total planner
I know and understand why Disney don't allow children to be measured once. As we are going to go to Guest Services it would be great in the future if they would consider adding the child's height to the card. As the card has a photo of the child that could help the situation?

 

[AidensMommy3]

Our ds4 was the exact same way. I think it was mainly "why is this stranger touching me?" Kinda thing. It was fear of the unknown. Practice at home , that helped a lot plus we knew how much he was going to measure so we could avoid rides he wasn't going to be tall enough for. For our little guy it was best when no one else was being measured and he could walk straight up to it without waiting. We tried the "band approach" at Dollywood once when he was 3 and it was a disaster! He cried the whole time and ended up not wanting to wear the band. Practice and he'll probably do great!

 

[sukhakuli]

Doesn't your son receive ABA? My son has autism, and up until he started Kinder he had 40-50 hours per week of ABA, plus he has ST, OT, and social therapy. He's not high functioning, though, but I wouldn't classify him as moderate, either. He does speak, very well, and he is mainstreamed in school with a full time aid and 50% special ed.

Now, we are able to basically tell him why he needs to do things and to deal with it. But at 4 he was non verbal, so we would have needed to add that to his therapy program if it was a trigger for him.

Does he not like having things put on his head? Is it social anxiety? Find the root and or antecedent, and then extinguish the behavior.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Doesn't your son receive ABA? My son has autism, and up until he started Kinder he had 40-50 hours per week of ABA, plus he has ST, OT, and social therapy. He's not high functioning, though, but I wouldn't classify him as moderate, either. He does speak, very well, and he is mainstreamed in school with a full time aid and 50% special ed.

Not all autistic children receive ABA.

 

[sukhakuli]

Why not? ABA is the gold standard for helping these children. If they don't get ABA (or floortime or whatever you choose to call it - intensive behavior therapy is what I am talking about) then how are they being helped?

My son was a toddler when he was diagnosed. We were told to expect that he would never live independently or speak conversationally. We hit him HARD with therapy. My dh and I both learned the techniques so when the therapists weren't with us, we continued to work with him. All the time. And he's speaking great and in a regular school (with a lot of support, but still.... Huge success!!). I expect that he will go to college and even get married and have a real career one day. There is excellent evidence that early intervention is key. Most of the therapy was provided by the state (EI can be extended if the need is great enough, originally ds was extended until age 18), and our insurance some, and now that he is school age most is provided by the school, so the financial burden was small for us.

 

[Gracie09]

Because not all children with autism are the same nor do they require or respond to the same therapy.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Why not? ABA is the gold standard for helping these children. If they don't get ABA (or floortime or whatever you choose to call it - intensive behavior therapy is what I am talking about) then how are they being helped?

My son was a toddler when he was diagnosed. We were told to expect that he would never live independently or speak conversationally. We hit him HARD with therapy. My dh and I both learned the techniques so when the therapists weren't with us, we continued to work with him. All the time. And he's speaking great and in a regular school (with a lot of support, but still.... Huge success!!). I expect that he will go to college and even get married and have a real career one day. There is excellent evidence that early intervention is key. Most of the therapy was provided by the state (EI can be extended if the need is great enough, originally ds was extended until age 18), and our insurance some, and now that he is school age most is provided by the school, so the financial burden was small for us.

Because not all children with autism are the same. What works for some doesn't for others, and vice versa. What worked incredibly well for your child might not work at all for another child.

 

[kirstenb1]

Why not? ABA is the gold standard for helping these children. If they don't get ABA (or floortime or whatever you choose to call it - intensive behavior therapy is what I am talking about) then how are they being helped?

My son was a toddler when he was diagnosed. We were told to expect that he would never live independently or speak conversationally. We hit him HARD with therapy. My dh and I both learned the techniques so when the therapists weren't with us, we continued to work with him. All the time. And he's speaking great and in a regular school (with a lot of support, but still.... Huge success!!). I expect that he will go to college and even get married and have a real career one day. There is excellent evidence that early intervention is key. Most of the therapy was provided by the state (EI can be extended if the need is great enough, originally ds was extended until age 18), and our insurance some, and now that he is school age most is provided by the school, so the financial burden was small for us.

Not everyone has $30,000 a year to spend on ABA. Yes, you can learn it yourself after watching an ABA trained therapist, but no insurance company covers it here. We taught ourselves Floortime, and paid for dd's private practice PT and OT for several years. AGain, no insurance would cover that either.

Anyway, way off-topic, but wanted to point out ABA is not within the $$$ range of every family. OP, so many rides have a very short, think 36 inches height requirement or none at all. If there are rides like coasters, or Splash Mountain and the like that your child wants to ride, I'd just practice measuring him at home. Give hime the choice of being measured, or skipping the ride.