Need recommendation for autistic son...

Hi,
I have a 4.5 year old, 40lb austistic son. I have a graco ultra cargo booster seat for him. He sits in the middle driver side of our Honda van. He is able to undo both the harness (which only goes up to 40lbs) and the regular seat belt. My husband and I have a traveling music ministry so we are on the road all the time as a family. Needless to say, traveling has been stressful lately with my son unbuckling himself over and over on our trips. I get so nervous with him unbuckling on the highway. Then he throws a tantrum when I try to get him to sit back down and buckle him. I am trying to figure out the best solution to this problem. Tonight, I have turned the buckle on his harness around so that the release button is facing him. I had my 6 year old test it and she was not able to undo the harness that way - I haven't tried my son out yet.

Oh, I forgot to mention, his bus has 5 pt harnesses and he is undoing those too. We are working on teaching him to stay put, but he does not understand the danger.

1. Ds will sit properly in the booster with the seat belt. I found a seat belt buckle cover online to keep him from unbuckling. I just don't know how safe this is.

2. Buy a new booster that harnesses past 40lbs and that he can not undo. My hesitation with this is that I bet he will figure out how to unbuckle it within a couple of weeks or a month after we purchase it. Which seats harness past 40lb? I know a couple of the Britax seats do. They are so expensive and we are low income. What about the Cosco Apex? Any others that may work out for my son? I am not sure how tall he is, but he wears size 5 clothes and has a longer torso than a lot of kids his age.

3. Buy an e-z-on harness and booster. The hesitation I have with this is that it doesn't look comfortable in the pictures I have seen. We spend hours in the car traveling (with breaks every two hours of course)

I should also mention that whatever we choose to buy for him needs to fit into a 12 passenger van and also a compact car.

I'm not a tech, nor do i yet have a seat to fit my 4 y/o tha is harness past 40lbs... i have a marathon but don't think it would fit you child in hight for very long... the same goes for the apex harness/booster seat you child is mostlikley already to tall or would be very soon after buying it in the harness mode... the best option i think would be a britax regent, but it's about $230-$250... I'm not to familar with autisium but wondering if insurance would help cover the cost of a seat, i know other conditions where insurance is willing to help since this does conserne the safty of our son, worth a try... I think i've read posts from other mamas with autistic children so maybe they will help you out some more!

We traveled an hour away today. I used his graco with harness and backwards buckle. He could not undo the buckle! He did undo the chest clip and take his arms out of the harness quite a few times, but he could not get out of the seat. He is going to have to use the seat like this for about a month since we will not have any money for a new seat or insurance to maybe cover a new seat until October. I will definitely have to look into insurance covering it.

A couple of things I noticed. The top slots on my graco are 17 inches. His shoulders are only 1/2 inch from the slot. I don't know how many inches tall he is, but He is the same height as my 6 year old. How tall are the top shoulder slots on the Regent? I know some of the Apex have 19 inch slots - I wonder how long it would take him to grow those two inches?

The regent's top slot is 21 inches, I believe. It would give him 4 more inches of torso growth than the graco. He really should last in the regent for quite a while, much longer than the apex, even the apex with 19 inch slots (if you could find one).

Ok. The Regent is the best for top slot. Is it easy to remove and reinstall in different vehicles? We will be moving it from our van to the 12 passenger van (I don't know what model or how old the van is going to be because it is not bought yet.) every weekend. I am probably going to have to get a tether anchor installed in the 12 passenger van for the seat.

Does anyone know anything about the safeguard go seat? That one would be very easy to move from vehicle to vehicle. I wonder If I can install that one with the seat belt and tether strap. I just have a feeling that the 12 pass. van won't have LATCH anchors.

Nevermind - the go's highest slot length is only 17 inches.

The regent is big and heavy. I would not want to move it often between cars since it is so heavy...but once you get the hang of installing it, it is a breeze and installs nicely in most vehicles, at least in my experience. The apex is not as heavy, but just as big and you might really have to search to find those 19 inch slots. You will also need to make sure every vehicle it is installed in has head rests. The back of the apex is not reinforced and therefore needs support behind it. If any of the vehicles you would be using it in does not have head rests, you can not use the apex.

musicmaj said:

I am probably going to have to get a tether anchor installed in the 12 passenger van for the seat.

I just have a feeling that the 12 pass. van won't have LATCH anchors.

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Sounds like you are thinking that using the LATCH and/or tether anchor are mandatory. You do not have to have LATCH in your vehicle to install a car seat, and even if the vehicle and CSS have LATCH you can still install the CSS just using the vehicle belts. Also you can use a CSS in a vehicle that does not have a tether anchor. If your van can have the anchor installed then great, but if not just use the seat without it.

Also, I have no personal experience with the Radian, but it is very narrow and the harness slots are quite tall. Sounds like this seat might be a good fit for your small car and big kid.

but don't you have to alteast have the tether instaled to use it with regnet after the child is 50lbs... RIGHT???

becca011906 said:

but don't you have to alteast have the tether instaled to use it with regnet after the child is 50lbs... RIGHT???

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Right, the Regent requires the use of the top tether for kids weighing 50 lbs. and up.

Also, doesn't the Apex require headrests? If so, then using it in the van may be an

issue. The Regent/Husky does take some getting used to, but as long as you're not switching it every car ride then you'll probably like it. Like the other posters mentioned, it does require use of the tether past 50 lbs.

oops--I should read more carefully. Someone already mentioned the headrest

requirement for the apex.