DC Child Accident & Safety Blog

For many children with autistic spectrum disorders who are learning to deal with autistic mannerisms, riding on a swing is a daily therapeutic activity whose effectiveness in improving sensory integration has been documented in scientific studies (see a ScienceDaily story published in April, 2008). However, a recent paper reports a potential hazard in these therapeutic swings that may cause eye injuries, according to the New York Times’ Roni Rabin.

Rabin cites a study appearing in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology that describes two eye injury cases linked to the patients’ use of swings. In both cases, young autistic children presented to the hospital multiple times with small foreign objects in the eye that were found to be metallic fragments. Noticing that the multiple occurrences pointed to a common cause, the paper’s author, Dr. Dean Bonsall of the University of Cincinnati, took extensive history of the boys’ daily activities and discovered their frequent use of a swing.

Dr. Bonsall hypothesized that wear and tear of the swings caused small metal fragments to become dislodged and fall into children’s eyes. He recommended protective eyewear for one of the patients, which prevented further recurrence of the injury.

The study explains that the metallic foreign bodies in the eyes “leave a white scar and may become secondarily infected and lead to vision loss,” therefore requiring timely medical attention. However, autistic children, especially those who are non-verbal, often have difficulty communicating discomfort of foreign objects in their eyes and therefore can fall victim to delayed diagnosis.

Dr. Bonsall encourages parents of autistic children who use swings to give them protective eyewear or wrap the swing mechanism in a cloth.

Small children frequently get fevers and infections, and survive them just fine. But occasionally something more dangerous comes along. Here is a checklist of warning signs, put together by Consumers Report and the British Medical Journal. Go to the emergency room if your child has any of these:

• A blue or purplish tinge to the child’s skin, often around the fingernails or the mouth
• Rapid breathing
• Poor blood flow to the hands and feet. Your child’s hands or feet might feel much colder than usual, or their fingernails might take longer than a couple of seconds to turn pink again after being squeezed
• A rash caused by broken blood vessels under the skin. This kind of rash can be a symptom of meningitis. Some rashes will go away if you press them, but this kind won't.
• You can check by rolling a glass over the rash
• Drowsiness or loss of consciousness
• A seizure
• A fever measuring over 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Also, trust your instincts. If you have a bad feeling that something might be seriously wrong, go ahead and take your child to the hospital. Those instincts are often correct, and if they're wrong, no harm is done by being cautious.

Here is the full report from Consumer Reports.