Baby Monitors or Cameras in the home for behavioral children?

Our girls have been SA'd, the two younger ones anyway, but fortunately we have no younger children for them to perpetrate on. We watch closely to ensure they don't target each other, but as of yet we've had them 14 months and have no indication of such. I'm seeing no sexually acting out at all, just the one night wanderer.

I am not sure that melatonin will work for you. It helps with getting TO sleep but doesn't normally help people stay asleep. Also, it is metabolized by light so if she is sleeping with a fairly bright closest light on, I do not think it will work. You could certainly ask the doctor for something stronger to help her stay asleep. My last suggestion would be to make it more interesting to stay in her room. If she has her own room, maybe put a TV and DVD player in there with the sound down low and the DVD on repeat. She might wake up and watch the video from bed and fall back to sleep. It also gives you something to take away if she wanders. We used this technique with DS who was a non sleeper and it kept him in his room at night. Also, it sounds like you might be able to protect your kitchen by turning off the breakers to the light switches (just make sure you don't turn off the fridge!) at night. That would be a super easy thing to try tonight and see if it works.

We have a nanny cam in our girls bedroom. It was originally put there for "evidence " for the sleep specialist to see their headbanging at night, but we have found it very useful for keeping tabs on behavior when they think they are out of vision! Ours do not night wander, nor do they get out of bed at all at night. They do not leave their room until we come get them (unless going potty) They cannot be trusted out of sight so they aren't allowed to be up in the house without us. I long for the day I can trust them to turn on the TV and hang in the den watching cartoons. Im so tired of being up with/before the sun because of their internal clocks! A camera alone certainly isn't going to wake you up anyway. I suggest the door "lasers" that buzz/ring/ding, as well as a baby monitor with a high sensitivity level. I have been searching for one of the talk back ones, but haven't found one cheap enough yet. What have you done to let her know that getting up at night is not OK? I only ask because you didn't say. For ours, it is their job to stay in their room unless they need to potty. Wandering is not allowed. I realize she probably wont stop such a habit if you simply ask her to, just curious what you have discussed with her. I also recommend melatonin. It helped my girls immensely. They were on prescription meds and I didn't like the side effects, and it works just as good, just not ALL night, but they are learning that if they wake its OK and learning how to get back to sleep on their own. We still have the headbanging, but it has drastically reduced... some days none at all, most days just a minute or two.(That's down from an hour or more every night, sometimes several hours) For us non-traumatized people....its hard to fathom why these kids cant just SLEEP! Frustrating, but it will get better if you work at it.

We have consistently told her she is not allowed out of her room, and that she may not come out until we get her up. She consistently comes out anyway. We have tried consequences of loss of cartoons, time out, as well as going back to her room to make up time. None of that was effective. We have also tried rewards...a week gets a new toy. That doesn't work. NOTHING we say and no consequence or reward system works with this child. We've been working at this for 14 months, but recently her behaviors have increased dramatically. The not sleeping at night and night wandering is fairly new, as are some other behaviors...like the rages, screaming for hours, and malicious things like sticking her foot out, tripping her preschool teacher and laughing. THOSE are new. Her appetite is also off right now. Her therapist believes she may currently be in a manic episode of bipolar, but given that she's 5 it's very difficult. We're going to chart and note for awhile right now. It could be behaviors due to the recent court filing of TPR on the bio parents, but it could be a bipolar episode has been triggered. Given what the girls have been through it's really hard to point it down to ONE thing and know what it is. We have many, many issues. She will not mind. The moment she thinks an adult isn't watching she does whatever. She does the same at preschool. If you ask why her answer is always "Because I wanted to". I've sat her down and gone over things with her. If you do xyz what will happen? She'll say whatever it is, time out, etc. Yet she will still do the same behavior. It's a circle. She will repeatedly do exactly whatever she has been told NOT to do, often within 5 minutes of reminding. "Do not pick up the dog" with a "What will happen if you pick up the dog" is usually followed by her picking up the dog within 5-10 minutes of the reminder to not do so. This morning I left her long enough to go to my room to put on my shoes and socks. When I walked out she was in the kitchen and had a gallon of milk that she was pouring out. Half of it went into a pitcher she'd placed in the sink, the other half went down the sink. She wasn't trying to get a drink. She was playing. She knows she is not allowed in the kitchen. She knows she is not allowed in the fridge. That doesn't stop her. During her night wanderings this month this is about the 3rd time she's made messes with the milk or sugar. The fact that she knows she isn't supposed to is not a deterrent. The fact that she may get caught isn't a deterrent. She will do what she wants when she wants to, and only an adult being physically present to state a reminder stops her, but only for that moment. If the adult gets side tracked by another child, packing a lunch or whatever life's little side tracks are she will do whatever it is anyway. I'm stopping by Wal-Mart tonight to get a child safety lock for the fridge. At almost 6 one would think she wouldn't be doing this stuff, but her behavioral mentality is about 2. It makes a huge struggle for us. She's 65 lbs and over 4 foot tall, but her behaviors and things are 2, so she can reach far more than the typical toddler. It's a whole new level of baby proofing that we have no experience at. And if you speak to her she KNOWS the rules. She KNOWS she isn't supposed to. That doesn't phase her. She does it anyway. With RAD she isn't programmed to want to please, so it doesn't occur to her to do something or not do something because it makes another person happy with her, or because she may get praised. Praise also plays no role with her. We've tried the catch her being good avenue too. She also likes to throw in our face now and then that we can't do anything because she's foster care. She's been in and out and in the system since birth, so she's got it down that SHE is the boss, that being "foster care" (as she puts it) gives her an elite status, and she considers herself as some kind of princess. The first time I sent her to her room she told me I couldn't do that, that she was foster care, and that she would tell her caseworker. I told her that she'd see her caseworker in a couple of weeks and could say what she wanted, but in the meantime she was going to her room. And I picked her up, put her in her room with her crying, screaming, scratching, and biting me all the way. That's how that goes. Then she will attempt to come out. I will put her back. One night about 3 weeks ago she did that at bed time. I had to put her back in her bed about 20 times over while she was screaming in my face "You can't make me! You can't make me go to bed!" UGH. Life is very, very hard with this one. We keep loving her. We keep trying. Somewhere deep down I know there's a kid we can connect with. If we try hard enough we'll figure out where that connection is. Right now I guess we're just going to have to put parameters in place to add extra measures of safety and security, to make those boundaries physical.

She used to make really ugly faces at me and glare at me. There was outright defiance and resentment all over her face for the longest time when "caught" or reminded. That was true at home and preschool. We aren't getting the looks as much. It has moved to blank stares with no expression. When she came to us 14 months ago she wouldn't make eye contact. She would then pretend she didn't hear you. She would often walk away or distract herself when trying to talk to her. I have re-directed that to ensure we have eye contact. I make her stop, we make her look at us. When we speak I do it eye to eye, and now I often have her repeat back to me what's been said. We are trying to connect. Following the first behavior being thwarted she went into the hateful faces. Now we get the blank stares, but we do have eye contact. It's probably progress, right?

It sounds like you are making a lot of progress actually. That may be what set off this latest round of escalation. Hang in there. Reading your description, it does sound like it could be a zillion different things. Hang in there and keep trying things. I am sure you will figure it out just in time for the next behavior to start ;)

I have an older model of these we used. [url=http://www.bjs.com/defender-pro-8-channel-smart-dvr-with-1tb-hard-drive--4-night-vision-cameras-and-2-dome-cameras.product.261649?dimId=2007101+4294952704]Defender Pro 8-Channel Smart DVR with 1TB Hard Drive, 4-Night Vision Cameras and 2 Dome Cameras - BJ's Wholesale Club[/url]

Wow...you got your hands full with that one! Our daughters do a lot of the "as soon as your back is turned they cut up" stuff, but nothing to the level you describe. The first couple of months though, they were soooo much work. You must be very tired. Ours had some mild attachment stuff, but for the most part want to please us, If you haven't already, Id read Nancy Thomas's stuff. Even if you don't like her style, she really knows kids with RAD and has a lot of success stories. For me, I would shut her door. and have an alarm on it. Safety first. If she wants it opened at night, she has to earn it by staying in bed, not roaming the house. But maybe there are rules against that if she is still in foster care. I cannot imagine the mischief mine could do if out of bed unsupervised. I don't even want to think about it! You are doing some hard hard work. It will pay off one day. Good luck to you!

Oh, and obviously...this child need a good, trained RAD therapist..... hope you have one, if not, please find one! It will help you as much as her.

I ordered two of these so far, one for the kitchen and one for the livingroom. I am hoping it works out for us. We'll try to get them hooked up this weekend. If they don't work then I'll look at the system you posted. What I like about these is that we can log in from our phones too. [url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ZPWS4U/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1]Amazon.com: Foscam FI8910W Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with Two-Way Audio and Night Vision (White): Camera & Photo[/url]

We added a baby gate as suggested. It's one that my husband had to put hardware on the door frames to attach. It latches and swings open. I'm counting my blessings that her motor skills are so low as she cannot undo the latch. :banana: Not yet. It should save us some time until we get the nanny cams installed this weekend. Last night was her second night with it, and so far we've had two nights in a row that she stayed in her room. She did go to the gate hollering and crying the first night, but ended up back in her bed. So that was good. Last night when we tucked her in she told my husband that she could break the gate and climb over it, and that she WOULD get out. She didn't though, so we'll see. She's already set in her mind that she resents the gate and will conquer it though, obviously, so it's just a matter of time. This child never has the thought of doing as told, minding, complying or being pleasing. We are just inconveniences to her and what she wants. *sigh* We just throw obstacles at her and get in her way. I keep hoping that ONE day something will click and ONE day will arrive when she wants to comply. This little one's motor skills on some things are way, way behind, and that maybe our saving grace. She cannot turn the door knob on the front door. It's too stiff for her. When she succeeds at that we'll have to add one of those knob covers I think. She isn't there yet though. She, after working with her for 14 months now, is just now able to buckle her own seat belt. (Yes, she will be 6 in about 4 months). In the past month or two she has learned to open the car door for herself to get in and out. For a long time that was beyond her, and she still struggles with seat belts if she rides in an unfamiliar car. She cannot yet pedal a bicycle. She still uses her feet like a toddler would to move about. There are times she still struggles with dressing herself. When she came to us 14 months ago she couldn't even put her own underwear on successfully. Now she can handle anything that doesn't have snaps or buttons. She still cannot do those. So, the baby lock on the fridge and hopefully the latch on the baby gate will be some time in coming for her, so we do have that blessing. I just never thought we'd need to put these measures in place for a child of this age. We also added a soft-sided bed rail on her daybed. That makes it a little more crib like. I thought it might be a physical reminder to stay in bed. She can go around it quite easily, and does, but I thought it might help to have that visual reminder, and maybe an added feeling of safety and security for her. It can't hurt. And since she has fallen out of bed once, face down onto the hardwood floor bloodying her nose, it isn't a bad idea anyway. We'll just keep trying and keep putting measures in place until we get her all wrapped up in safety and security all the way around, in her physical environment as well as what we give emotionally. Hopefully she'll come to accept it in time. The adoption should happen in the next few months, and the therapist believes having permanency will also help. She's been tossed around so much that she often gets very confused in her head. She'll wake up thinking that she's going to go to this person or that person. We keep telling her she's staying here always, but she doesn't understand the concept. We don't have a RAD specialist yet. I'm waiting to get her on my insurance as the division doesn't want to refer her or "label" her. I understand that somewhat, but it doesn't make our lives any easier. I'm half dreading pre-kindergarten testing. I think that will be this month or next. I expect she's going to need an IEP. We've had her in preschool since she came to us, but she's still very behind. She has problems with retaining. She can know something for one day, the day it's taught and all the worksheets happen, but the information is gone the next day. It's like her brain wipes the slate clean. In 14 months we've successfully taught her to write her name. I guess that's good progress, but given that it's taken so long to get to that I'm not sure how kindergarten will go. Her name has only two letters in it, and she still has difficulty recognizing one of those letters if it's written anywhere EXCEPT in her name. With her delays and all the behaviors she is probably the most challenging child I've ever met. She's quite a puzzle. Hopefully if you all can keep me advised to make her physical environment have all the parameters it should we can move back to motor skills and learning.

Our therapist has a specialist she plans to line us up with as soon as I get her on my insurance, so I think by fall we will get all of those needed evaluations and specialists in place.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/wireless-network-surveillance-camera/8884329.p?id=1218931025703&skuId=8884329&st=categoryid$pcmcat254000050005&cp=1&lp=2 I have those and there GREAT! You set them up then download the d-link application on your smart phone. It can even take pictures when someone gets up, etc. I keep it on the application on my phone at night so if I ever wonder if I hear something I just look on the phone :) As you see I have 8 kiddos in the home and one has history of intense fire setting

There are many good baby monitors actually so I can't recommend you a specific one to buy. Instead, take a look at this guide here to understand how to find the right brand that suits your needs.Have a nice day, buddy!

There are many good baby monitors actually so I can't recommend you a specific one to buy. Instead, take a look at this guide here to understand how to find the right monitor brand that suits your needs and budget.Have a nice day, buddy!