Having Developmental Co-ordination Disorder, or Dyspraxia, J has always struggled with knowing where his bits and bobs are.... or as those in the 'know' call it proprioception. For instance, wandering around in the dark, when missing vital visual cues, he is far more adrift than if he's anchored to the floor in full daylight.
Night times when he was younger we would go into his room to find one leg up the wall and the other on the floor (yes, he is hypermobile, but this was ridiculous even for him) or both legs up the wall at the head of the bed with him covered by the duvet. Other nights, he'd be found upside down INSIDE the duvet cover and, of course, he also fell out of bed regularly. He shouted out in the night, some times as often as hourly, not knowing where he was, where his bedding was and how to get warm again.
Having read up loads on the matter, we decided to try weighted blankets (and, yes, we had tried firm tucking in with a blanket - not up to the job of restricting his cavorting nighttime antics). Seven years ago it was hard to source weighted products in the UK and where they were available they were very expensive.
Luckily a relative is a frequent visitor to the US so we asked him to bring back a weighted blanket for J to try. He got on OK with it initially - it is the sort that has sewn in pockets which are then filled with bags of plastic (we think) beads. The good thing about this kind of blanket is you can adjust the weight and/or change the weight to areas where they're needed more.
For Christmas, J had been given a dog with a wheat pouch within which was intended as a warming device... it didn't take me long to remove the wheat pouch (the dog has a velcro tummy opening) and make a pocket out of old curtain lining material. This was then filled with ceramic baking beans and the pocket was double stitched closed. Adding the now filled and heavy pocket bag into the dog and tah dah - J had his very own weighted dog who is still offering faithful service to his master to this day. Luckily the dog 'outer' is washable and all that's required is to remove the weight.
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We make a lot of use of a weighted backpack when out and about. It's loaded up with our 'provisions' (food, water bottles, spare clothing) for an outing and it helps J to know where his back is as well as making him feel grounded - particularly useful in crowds. As you can see, his bag has a handle on just behind his neck and this is grabbed should a stumble happen or to give directions (subtly) if a situation is becoming overwhelming for him. Also, it has an identi-label on it (for contact phone numbers), and many fiddle toys and sensory activities dangling from it. We can hear these rattle in a distinctive way so can track J from quite a distance if he feels able to explore... and the backpack can provide distraction and calming familiarity should things become too much for him.
We hope these ideas are of interest and use. PLEASE remember to check that what you use is appropriate and safe for you and yours... this is a record of what works for us. There is no guarantee it will for others but you may think there's something you'd like to research more. Thanks for reading.
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