Mike Carr – who has a profoundly autistic 34-year-old son, reviews products he’s used and provides insight for parents of severely or profoundly autistic children. He highlights a recent article in Neuroscience News about the interaction between CNTN4 and APP proteins, suggesting potential benefits for autism research from Alzheimer’s funding. He updates on the Acura door lock, praising its app integration and security features, and advises against using a specific wireless sleep sensor due to its ineffectiveness, recommending Ring portable cameras instead. He shares a humorous anecdote about a diaper alarm that went off in public, while emphasizing its utility for monitoring bedwetting. Despite ongoing challenges with his son’s bedwetting, he finds M4 super thick diapers somewhat helpful and seeks further solutions from the community. Future episodes will continue to explore both low tech and high tech solutions for parents.
6 Tech Solutions That Helped Us Navigate Life with a Severely Autistic Child: From Bedwetting Alarms to Door Locks
Welcome back to Autism Labs! In today’s episode, I want to take you through six tools and solutions that have made a huge difference in managing the challenges we face as parents of a profoundly autistic son. These aren’t just theoretical suggestions; these are real, practical tools that have worked for us over the years. From sleep monitoring to securing our home and managing bedwetting, these solutions have given us peace of mind and made daily life a little easier. Let’s dive into the story behind each one.
1. A Breakthrough in Autism Research: The Connection Between Two Proteins
Before we get into the tech side of things, I wanted to share some exciting news from the world of neuroscience. I recently came across an article from Neuroscience News about a breakthrough study that looks at the interaction between two proteins: CNTN4, which is linked to autism, and PP, which plays a role in Alzheimer’s.
What struck me most was that these two proteins are connected, which opens up possibilities for Alzheimer’s research to impact autism treatments. This could mean advancements in therapies for autism, especially for families like ours. I encourage you to check out the full article on our Autism Labs Facebook page. It’s an exciting development, and I believe it could change the future of autism care.
2. Securing Our Home: The Aqara Door Lock System
Let me tell you, securing your home when you have a child who is profoundly autistic can feel like a never-ending task. We’ve all heard the stories of kids wandering off or getting into dangerous situations, and as a parent, that’s always in the back of your mind. That’s why we turned to the Acura Door Lock System—a solution that’s given us much-needed peace of mind.
This smart lock system has an app that lets us monitor who’s coming in and out of the house. One feature we love is the ability to set up thumbprint or phone number-based access for anyone who works with our son. So we always know who’s entering our home and when. Plus, it has an auto-lock feature, which is a game-changer. The system’s been great for us, but if you’re looking for something more customizable, there are other systems that let you set different access levels for different people.
3. Sleep Monitoring: Finding What Works
Getting a good night’s sleep is essential for both parents and kids, but when your child has special needs, sleep can be a tricky issue. I remember when we first tried a wireless sleep sensor that attaches to the wall and tracks your child’s movements. It sounded like the perfect solution, but, unfortunately, it didn’t work as expected. The sensor only detected movements if our son was positioned just right, and if he wasn’t, it failed to register anything. We quickly abandoned that option.What ended up working better for us were Ring portable cameras. These tiny, high-resolution cameras allowed us to monitor our son’s room, listen to what was happening, and even communicate with him through the two-way audio feature. If he woke up in the middle of the night and got out of bed, we could talk to him, remind him to return to bed, or simply reassure him. This tool has been invaluable for monitoring his sleep and ensuring his safety through the night.
4. The Bedwetting Dilemma: A Solution That Works
As our son has grown, one issue that hasn’t gone away is bedwetting. At 34, he still struggles with it, and as you can imagine, it’s a challenge that can be both physically and emotionally draining. We’ve tried everything from diapers to bedwetting alarms, and while progress has been slow, there’s been some success.
The bedwetting alarm is one tool that has proven to be effective. We place the sensor inside his diaper, and when it detects wetness, it triggers a loud sound or a buzzing, alerting us to the situation. It’s a small thing, but it’s been incredibly helpful, especially for younger children who are still learning to stay dry at night. Of course, there’s always that one funny moment I’ll never forget—when I forgot to remove the sensor before my wife took our son to Target. As you can imagine, while in line at checkout, the alarm went off because he’d wet his diaper. A bit embarrassing, but a small price to pay for something that works!Another solution we’ve found helpful are adult diapers like the M4 model, designed to absorb larger amounts of urine. They’ve worked better than most, but we’re always looking for new solutions. If you’ve got any tips or advice, I’d love to hear from you on our Facebook page or in direct messages. It’s always helpful to connect with others going through the same thing.
5. Helpful Tips for Parents of Severely Autistic Children
Over the years, I’ve learned that a mix of high-tech and low-tech solutions works best. Some challenges are solved with simple adjustments, and others require more advanced technology. Here are a few low-tech tips that have made a big difference for us:
- Routine Is Everything: Kids with autism thrive on consistency. Keeping a predictable schedule reduces anxiety and helps transitions go more smoothly. From meals to bedtime, having a routine is essential.
- Noise-Canceling Headphones: Many children with autism are sensitive to loud noises. We’ve found that noise-canceling headphones can really help, especially in public places or during family events.
- Visual Schedules: A simple visual schedule showing the day’s activities can give your child the structure and reassurance they need to stay calm.
6. Closing Thoughts: Embracing Innovation and Finding What Works
Raising a profoundly autistic child is a daily challenge, and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. But as parents, it’s important to embrace a combination of low-tech and high-tech tools that can help make life a little easier. From smart locks to sleep cameras to bedwetting alarms, the right technology can provide peace of mind and make life a bit more manageable.
I hope these six solutions have been helpful in your own journey. Remember, what works for one family might not work for another, and that’s okay. The key is to keep experimenting and finding the tools that work best for you and your child.
Stay tuned for more tips, stories, and advice in next week’s episode of Autism Labs. We’re here to support you and share what’s working for us in our family. If you have any questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to reach out. Best of luck to all of you, and we’ll see you next time!
Transcript:
Mike Carr (00:12):
Well, welcome back to Autism Labs. This week we’re going to cover six different things that might be of interest to parents with severely or profoundly autistic kiddos living at home. There was an article yesterday in the neuroscience news that talked about the interaction between two proteins. One protein is called CNTN four, and that has to do with neurological development problems related to autism, and then a PP is a different protein. It’s related to neurodegeneration. In Alzheimer’s patients, there might be some more research funding available for Alzheimer’s patients that will then also benefit autism patients. Since these two proteins seem to interact with one another in the brain. If you want more information, I did a post yesterday on the Autism labs Facebook page. Just go to Facebook, look up autism labs, and you’ll see a post from 5 15 24 where I give you the actual link to the article in neuroscience news.
(01:11):
The second thing is an update on door locks. I’ve mentioned this last week that we have this Acura, a door lock or a car door lock. It’s worked great. We’ve been testing it now for a couple of weeks, but there are other varieties that are out there, but this one has an app. We’ve given all our colleagues that work with our son, both a thumbprint entry as well as their phone number. It’s really easy for us to see who’s with our son when they showed up, when they left to make sure the door’s locked. It has an auto lock feature highly recommended. However, another device not so good. This was the wireless sensor that we were using for monitoring our son’s sleep. It doesn’t have to wear anything at all. This thing just fits on the wall and it goes over his head. We thought this would be so cool.
(01:54):
The problem we’ve discovered is if he doesn’t sleep in a vertical line, right, so the sensor’s right over him, looking down on his chest, it doesn’t work. Plus, it’s a bit of a pain to install, so we’re not going to recommend that. Unfortunately. However, there’s something that we’ve used for quite a while, and I think you guys probably are aware of this, these little ring portable cameras. These things are awesome, and so you can put it in his bedroom, make sure that he or she’s asleep. It’s color, it’s high resolution and it’s sound, right, and you can talk to ’em. So it’s like this idea that, Hey, Michael, go back to bed. If he gets up right, he may or may not listen to you, but at least you can talk to him. You can also listen, and so you get the audio cue if he or she gets up and you can see.
(02:42):
So I highly recommend these portable things. You can move around as you need them, living room, kitchen, wherever. Okay, funny story. So we’ve been trying to get our son to stop wetting the bed and when he was littler, stop wetting his pants so we’d have a diaper on him, but we actually were using some of the portable alarms for his diaper and it worked great. The way it works is you put the sensor down inside his diaper. If he wets his diaper, the sensor goes off with a loud sound or a buzzing or whatever the problem is. I forgot to take it out before my wife took him to Target. So she’s standing in the line ready to check out, and this thing goes off because he wet his diaper, so they work great. Just be sure and take it out of the diaper if you’re going to take your son or daughter out, and of course, you can also use this as an alarm for bedwetting at night if that’s something that you want to do.
(03:37):
We have not had 34 years old. We still can’t prevent him from laying to bed at night. What we have though, tried to do and what’s worked reasonably well for us is you can get these big diapers. They come in different sizes. The key thing here is the M four. That’s a super thick diaper that tends to absorb more of the urine at night. If you have a better solution for how to solve this problem, please post me or DM me autism labs. You can go to and get information there about how to get ahold of me. That would really be helpful. Best of luck to you this week, and we’ll be back next week with some more information on both low tech and high tech solutions. For those folks that have profoundly or severely autistic individuals, see you.
