Having your older autistic child in a wagon when you’re out in the community may prevent elopement, but over time, muscle atrophy will occur.
At an indoor autism resource fair recently I saw an autistic boy of about 10, being moved around in a little wagon – almost too small for him – by Dad, while Mom and a typical appearing younger boy were with him.
I’ve witnessed a similar scenario multiple other times including at an airport. These are kids who, at their age, aren’t normally placed in wagons or carts while out in public.
For typical kids, parents stop doing this by the time they’re around four or five.
The autistic kids I’ve seen appeared to be at least a few years older to around 10 or 11.
This can lead to muscle atrophy, poor fitness and poor health. However, a sweet spot can be obtained, rather than just indiscriminately defaulting to the wagon every time one is out with their elopement-prone autistic child.
Why Parents Put Their Older Autistic Kids in Wagons
The obvious reason seems to be elopement prevention: The wagon or cart provides comforting pressure that keeps the child from wanting to run off.
The confinement may also make it impossible for some kids to climb out of.
Another reason could be prevention of maladaptive behavior. For example, if the child is on his feet, he’d likely start “getting into things” if inside a store or at a resource fair.
The wagon can also prevent other troublesome behaviors such as kicking and screaming on the floor, running up to strangers or traipsing into inappropriate areas such as behind a cash counter.
The Problem with the Wagon Approach
A wagon is a quick and easy fix when parents go out in public with their more severely autistic child.
But the long-term fallout needs a good looking at. Not only is the child at high risk for becoming flabby and very deconditioned, the wagon also strips them of learning how to properly navigate walking about in public as far as behavior.
Imagine that the only time you walk is when you’re inside your house.
Whenever you’re in the community or on the job, you’re pushed or pulled along in a wagon.
Imagine you don’t offset that with any gym workouts or exercise using a home gym. You’d get pretty flabby and end up in very poor physical condition.
The same thing will happen to a child – especially a severely autistic child who may spend much of their waking hours in a seated position around the house.
They’d be far more likely to be excessively sedentary when compared to typical siblings. So already, they may have a low level of fitness.
Now compound that with depriving them of walking whenever they go out into the community because they’re placed in a cart.
They will have poor muscle tone and be prone to overweight. Even if they’re not visibly overweight, they’d still have poor muscle tone and body fitness.
The next problem is that long-term use of the wagon will make it all that more difficult for that child to self-manage behavior when they finally outgrow the wagon.
I’ve never seen teens, let alone adults, being pushed around in wagons – with the exception of one girl in a stroller-type device whom the mom told me was 14 (she was very petite).
At first I thought she had a physical handicap; I just automatically assumed that no parent would put an able-bodied teen in a stroller, no matter how severe the autism.
Then I saw her at another autism event about a year later — walking about, though with a slight degree of ambulatory apraxia (difficulty walking normally). But it was hardly enough to warrant a stroller.
However, I could see how the stroller could relieve the mother, as this nonverbal girl had profound autism (the mom had also told me that in addition to the autism, she had the mental age of three years).
The boy who looked 10, plus others like him, will outgrow the wagon. And then what?
Suddenly they’ll be loose on their feet without having had much training or learning opportunities throughout their life regarding walking alongside their parents without running off.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks may very well apply here. Having spent many formative years confined to a cart, wagon or stroller will make it mighty difficult to transition to walking freely without causing the very problems that the wheeled device was used for in the first place!
Are there any solutions to this conundrum?
To help prevent flabby muscles and the poor posture that would come from spending a lot of time sitting slumped in a wagon, parents could look into a mini-trampoline that’s designed for kids.
Daily jumping will help offset all the hours each week spent being wheeled around.
Parents can also look into programs that offer physical activity for autistic kids in a safe environment.
The parent can also consider reducing wagon time.
How to Reduce Wagon Time
Perhaps for shorter visits to a particular venue, the wagon could be left in the car. The parent would need to commit to holding tightly to their child’s hand.
Though this may seem, depending upon the child’s potential behaviors, too big of a burden, one must also think about what all that wagon time can do to their child’s body. Another option could be both parents holding the child’s hands.
If there’s only one parent, and especially if there’s another child in tow, a “leash” should be considered. Now before you start shaking your head, don’t let the term “leash” put you off.
A leash can be in the form of a discreet wrist to wrist coiled cord that stretches. There are also waist to hand leashes. Some leashes can be joined to the child’s backpack while the parent holds the other end.
This way, your kid can’t elope or “get into things,” while at the same time, will get much-needed walking exercise.
Plus, this will provide opportunities for them to receive instruction, prompts or other forms of training to stay at your side and to learn where they shouldn’t waltz off to.
The leash can be a break from the wagon during outings that are less over-stimulating. It can also help smooth out the eventual transition to abandoning the wagon – you can’t be pulling your kid around in a wagon when they’re 5’10 and 170 pounds.
The transition could be a nightmare if there’s no ambulatory time to break up the wheel time.
There’s one more point that needs attention: When a parent can effectively RUN, this will make the stress of possible elopement or darting away less overwhelming.
There are workouts all parents should do to train their bodies to quickly charge after a bolting child. There is just no reason why an elementary age kid should be outrunning a full-grown adult.
