This is one of the more dangerous and scary Cara stories that I have, but it is a good reminder of how simple things can turn into big trouble for our special kiddos.
It all started with Lilo and Stitch.
Huh?
Yes, Lilo and Stitch. There is a scene in the movie where Lilo is in trouble. She runs off to hide from her sister and chooses to hide in the dryer. After her sister catches her, there is an argument between the two. For some reason, this became one of Cara's favorite verbal exchanges when she got upset. It was mildly annoying what with the screeching and all.
Then, one day, Cara took it one step further - and one step too far. She actually ran downstairs and climbed into our dryer. Cara is 5'4", so she was able to squeeze into our dryer, but just barely. We never waited to see if she would (or could) get out on her own. As soon as we heard the scream that signaled the start of the script, one of us was following Cara down the stairs.
Even with Cara's small size, climbing in the dryer is obviously very dangerous from getting stuck to not being able to open the door to not being able to breath.
Cara was not about to stop this new and dangerous behavior with just "please, don't climb in the dryer, Cara, it isn't safe." So, I did my usual and created a social story (attached). Between reading the social story several times, and a lock on the dryer, Lilo no longer hides in our dryer. We still get the Lilo screech and the rest of the script, though, when Cara is upset.
Cara was not a little kid when she did this. This was about a year and a half ago when Cara was 16, almost 17 years. That is what is truly scary to me. Even though Cara is 18
now, I know that she cannot be left alone at home for fear that she would get herself into some sort of trouble.