Worried About my Son Getting Lost

captshinnster

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 27, 2008
We are going to WDW at the end of September with our 2.5 year old son. He has Childhood Apraxia of Speech and cannot communitcate (yet) with someone to tell them what we look like or that we are lost. Is there any thing we can do upon entering the park to let GS or a Cast Member know about this. If he was able to communicate with others it would be easier. Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Rest assure, just about any min, a bunch of people will come and tell what CMs will do, and what to do before hand..like .take picture of child that morning with the clothes he is wearing THAT day. There are stickers you can put on his arm with your cell phone or little tags that hang on his shoe. I don't remember the exact information on these items, but again, there are a lot of smart people here with young kids and have had the same worries.
 
Our son was between 4 and 5 before he could really communicate in a predictably understandable manner with people other than immediate family or speech therapists. When we went anywhere with him, we put a photo of us in his pocket with our cell phone numbers on it, along with a note stating that he was non-verbal and required help in finding us. We told him if he ever looked around and didn't see us to give that to (insert your choice here). We never needed it, thank goodness, but knowing it was with him really helped us relax a bit. (If you fear something like that could be lost, you could even put it into a photo sleeve and then use thread to sew it into his pocket lining each day, with just enough excess to allow him to pull it from his pocket, but not actually leave it anywhere.)

I've also seen people write their cell phone number on their child's forearm with sharpie marker. They may even make customizable temp. tattoos for that kind of info now.

Ironically, it was his chatter-box brother who managed to get lost on us once and he didn't even bother to tell anyone he was lost. He just stood there chatting up some adult about whatever he felt like chatting about...Lego, zoo animals, who knows, LOL! But he didn't bother to tell them that he had been separated from us. :rolleyes:
 
I ordered tattoos for my grandson who was nonverbal until after two years old. We had considered a bracelet but he wouldn’t wear even his magic band.

That said we haven’t lost him yet! I also ordered a backpack with a “leash” and brought it each day but never used it. If we’re in a busy area then it’s in the stroller or one of us are carrying him.
 
Thank you everyone. I think we will go with the picture in the pocket and temp tattoos. Even though he won't be able to tell us we know that he will have a great time. :)
 
Thank you everyone. I think we will go with the picture in the pocket and temp tattoos. Even though he won't be able to tell us we know that he will have a great time. :)
Our situation may be a little different but I wanted to tell you that every year our DGS makes enormous strides after his trip to Disney. He pointed for the first time on spaceship earth, his first Disney ride of that trip, despite three different therapists who had worked with him for 6 months. He clapped for the first time on that trip. Each trip it was something else.

Last trip, 3/12 we had words and could name things but not really answer questions or put sentences together. He wanted to watch Blippi on my husbands phone while waiting and every time my husband would ask (again), how do you spell it? I would tell him, but the third or so time DGS, clearly exasperated, says B-L-I-P-P-I! I have never laughed so hard. The crazy thing is that when we retuned home, he was playing on his back porch and his mom walked out and in big chalk letters across the porch was written, BLIPPI. He’d never written a letter and only scribbled with crayons! Something about the overstimulation of the long week always results in a gigantic leap for him! I hope y’all have a wonderful trip!

And if you somehow get misplaced by your child, let someone know immediately. They have measures in place and will act quickly.
 
We are going to WDW at the end of September with our 2.5 year old son. He has Childhood Apraxia of Speech and cannot communitcate (yet) with someone to tell them what we look like or that we are lost. Is there any thing we can do upon entering the park to let GS or a Cast Member know about this. If he was able to communicate with others it would be easier. Thanks in advance for any help.

Nothing more to add to these great tips, but as another Apraxia mom I wanted to say hi! Our daughter got her official diagnosis at 3 (after a year of in-home speech therapy when they could only treat it as a delay). We were so lucky to get her outside speech therapy covered 100% thanks to the Scottish Rite Foundation's Rite Care program, and that plus what she was getting in school made a drastic change. She's 6 now, and is only working on her articulation. We have her IEP meeting on Friday, and there's a good chance that this may be the last year she'll need services in school.
 


We always put a sticker on DS's back when he was little, that had our names and phone numbers on it. It would have been easily visible to anyone who found him wandering alone, but was out of the way for pictures, and not in a place where it would bother him, or he would mess with it at all. Fortunately we never needed it, but it was great peace of mind, as he was prone to disappearing quickly.
 
Your son is not going to "get lost." You may lose him. Communicate constantly with other adults in your party about who is going to have eyes or hands on him at all times. Someone should ALWAYS be watching him and everyone should know who that person is at any given time. This is how you keep track of kids. Don't get distracted by your phone, or anything else.

I understand the fear, as my youngest has apraxia. Both my kids are also autistic and neither has ever gotten lost anywhere because it was SUCH A MAJOR FEAR of mine that I made sure it never, ever happened. We were vigilant, perhaps to the detriment of our own enjoyment at times, but that is what you have to do.

I visit Disneyland several times every month. I cannot tell you how many parents simply stop watching their kids or have their heads buried in their phones and don't notice their kid wander off. This happens a LOT in ride queues. These parents will move forward and the kid hangs back and no one notices.

Similarly, if you are going to do something like leave them sitting in a stroller while you make a purchase, use the bathroom, or anything like that, STRAP THEM IN. Kids will just get up out of a stroller and walk away very often, and their parents take awhile to notice. Our rule was always, if their butt was in the stroller seat, they were strapped in. No exceptions.

Just last week, I saw 4 kids "get lost." In 2 cases, the parent didn't even notice the kid was gone until someone nearby said "is this anyone's kid?" The other 2 were older sisters who approached a CM.

Seriously, just pay attention and you won't lose your kid.
 
Sounds like you already got some great input already but wanted to share that when we arrive, we always take a picture of each kid at the gate and text it to all the people in our group (who has a phone) so that if someone got lost, we have a recent picture of them in the outfit they are wearing. That way if we need to show a cast member the process of finding them will be as easy as possible. A cast member told us to do that so that they can access cameras and find missing child easier.
 
Thank you everyone. I think we will go with the picture in the pocket and temp tattoos. Even though he won't be able to tell us we know that he will have a great time. :)
make sure you have a pic of him each day or change of clothes. don't rely on your memory. assuming that he does get separated from you are going to have to be able to let them know what he looks like that day. I say this from working at a small park. our security CM prides them selves on most times already having child before family reports child missing as the family usually looks for child before reporting missing child.
 
Sounds like you already got some great input already but wanted to share that when we arrive, we always take a picture of each kid at the gate and text it to all the people in our group (who has a phone) so that if someone got lost, we have a recent picture of them in the outfit they are wearing. That way if we need to show a cast member the process of finding them will be as easy as possible. A cast member told us to do that so that they can access cameras and find missing child easier.
or if they find missing child before parents report they can be sure they have right parents
 
In 2017 our 19 month old "GOT LOST" ! It was the most terrifying 10 mins of our lives.
We were in the circus gift shop and all of a sudden she was gone. I mean GONE in the blink of an eye, my DH and I went different ways, after 2 mins we couldn't see her in a sea of people so we approached a CM who helped us look. She asked for a photo and what she was wearing, we all looked around the whole area.
I went up to the teacups as It was her fav ride, on my way back down to the tent after not seeing her up there I started to tear up, I was beginning to freak out. When I saw my DH and the CM with her.
She was in the gift shop the entire time! She hid inside a huge pile of stuffed toys!
OMG, it was horrible. BUT I'll tell you this, you WILL find your child if they "go missing"
I think what worried us the most was that she was only 19 months old so not really able to tell anyone what was going on.
 
You will definitely get some disapproving looks, but they do sell leash like things. We used one a few times when our daughter was in a flighty stage. Felt awkward, but it made it safe
 
You will definitely get some disapproving looks, but they do sell leash like things. We used one a few times when our daughter was in a flighty stage. Felt awkward, but it made it safe

Oh, we totally used this too! We had the puppy one and my kids really loved their "puppy backpack." Who gives a hoot what people think? Not me.
 
We are going to WDW at the end of September with our 2.5 year old son. He has Childhood Apraxia of Speech and cannot communitcate (yet) with someone to tell them what we look like or that we are lost. Is there any thing we can do upon entering the park to let GS or a Cast Member know about this. If he was able to communicate with others it would be easier. Thanks in advance for any help.

Two of my three boys had severe speech delays. I’ve done sharpie on the arm (which I was criticized for doing because it’s not made for skin, but it worked the best because it was obvious), ID bracelets (which we still use), and last year I bought a Jiobit gps tracker for my youngest. If we get separated I can locate him on my phone.
 
My son was almost 3 on our last trip and we taped our contact info to his Magic Band. Cheap and easy!

Also, my heart goes out to you, OP. My son was in speech therapy from 16 months until a few months after he turned 3. He said his first word at 21 months and we used simple sign language for quite some time. We never did figure out the cause of his delay, but he’s almost 4 now and I’m trying to figure out how to make him be quiet! I hope your son comes along, but it sounds like you’re on the right track with getting him a diagnosis!
 
Secretly, if there's one place in the world you "want" your kid to get lost, it's Disney World. There's so much security and so many cast members who are super experienced in dealing with kids getting separated from their families, whether those kids are verbal or not. Magic Bands are also just an awesome tool--for all my iffiness about them tracking your movements, they're fantastic for if kids need to find the rest of their party, even if said kids can't talk about their moms and dads yet.

I'm also going to second (third? fourth? eleventh?) the tattoo idea--it's such a great way for cast members to be able to contact you if your LO gets separated. Also seconding the leash idea--we used one for OS and are using them for our twins as well, now that they're walking (especially because YS has a speech delay as well--not that either twin can effectively communicate most things at 18 months, but you know). People sometimes give you weird looks, but whatever. They can go jump in Bay Lake. You're keeping your kid safe and allowing him his freedom, and that's worth the weird looks.
 
You’ve gotten great ideas, but I want to second what another poster said about making sure everyone knows who is supposed to be watching him at all times. My friend’s toddler wandered off once(not at Disney, but in public) because everyone thought someone else was watching him! My friend, his mom, went to the bathroom and asked another adult in our party to watch him. That adult then needed to do something, so she asked another adult to watch him. That person wasn’t paying attention and had no clue he had been asked to watch the child. We found him safe and sound once we realized he was gone, but it was terrifying for those few moments.
 

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