Safety Autism Room for Noah

Noah is our very special, 11 year old son. He has low-functioning, non-verbal autism. As puberty has hit, he has unfortunately become more aggressive. This is a very common occurrence in these children and can often leave families grasping at straws as to how to cope. Our goal has always been to have Noah stay in our home, under our care. We are striving to do everything we can to have that be our reality and avoid feeling as though our only option is a group home. We have begun working with a wonderful behavior therapist at the C.A.R.E.S clinic at Texas State University. We hope that in time, this therapy will give us some better strategies to redirect Noah when he becomes angry and frustrated. Currently though, it has become apparent that we need a safe space for him for when he gets aggressive. Recently, he has broken three windows and has torn down our stair banister when he has been in a rage. He has also hit me (his mom) so hard in the head that I’ve “seen stars” and has a tendency to bite his father. Luckily, we have been able to shield the two younger children from injury, but not Noah; breaking glass windows leaves cuts. Noah’s current bedroom is up a flight of stairs and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get him up those stairs when he he is having a meltdown. We have hopes of renovating one side of our garage into a safe space for him. This would be more easily accessible when he is in a fit and we hope to outfit it with some padding and really high up windows.

I am working full time at the hospital, in the pediatric ICU and going to graduate school to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. Dave is working part time in a position that allows for a very flexible schedule. We would not be able to fund this much needed renovation without some help. We are hoping our tribe will come together to help us accomplish this goal and help us to feel it is safe for Noah to continue to live with his family.
Thank you so much for your consideration in this matter, it is appreciated!

Below images: Noah’s healing knee from most recent window breaking.

One of our broken windows.

The anchor points where our stair banister used to be secured.