Autism Proofing Our Home

It's time to autism-proof my home. I had done a good deal of this at our old house - where I "calmed" a lot of the areas of our house so they wouldn't be cluttered and cause anxiety for my oldest boy - as well as myself! I prefer that my house be one that is easily maintained and clean, clear surfaces, minimal decorations and zero fuss. But I don't want it to be clinical feeling.

At this house I had more pie in the sky type of ideas of what my house would look like. But as I have cleaned vomit off of too many surfaces in too many rooms to count (from Grayson's abdominal migraines that appear out of the blue and cause crazy vomiting - another post for another day), watched Mike patch walls only to find them filled with holes again, called the plumber in an emergency because our oldest boy put so many toys in our COVERED and LOCKED sump pump that we still aren't sure how he managed it...it became apparently clear that we HAVE TO DO SOMETHING.

As Mike says, "NOTHING IS SAFE."

I wrote this a few weeks ago and posted it to my autism Facebook page:

Today as I am waiting out one heck of a meltdown, I am sitting with my back pressed against the door frame of my oldest boy's room as the door was removed weeks ago due to excessive slamming, watching him kick the walls in frustration.

I am feeling angry today for a lot of reasons. I won't go into all that but I just texted a friend and told her I need to do something productive with this anger.

So I am writing out ideas on how to autism proof the home. It's more of a guideline for myself but I wonder if it wouldn't relate to others.

You know how Marie Kondo says to keep things that only spark joy? What if what you own sparks joy but can be destroyed or turned into a weapon?

Instead of asking if things can bring me joy, I am starting to ask:

Will my child use this object as a means to harm himself or others? Can this object be used to cause property damage?

If the answer is yes, I don't need it. Obviously there will be exceptions but I am going to test out my question as I work through my home.

I do kind of think that my guidelines are probably perfect for all parents with small children. But this is something we are going to try to stick with for years to come. I have a list but I will post it later in the week! :)