bite proof beanbag for work?

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I work at a school for students with behavioral issues and disabilities. Several of our students occasionally use a beanbag, but one of them is using it as a chew toy. A few days ago, he bit a hole in it and the filling spilled out all over the place. I had to seal the hole temporarily with some duct tape.

I've been trying to brainstorm a solution - something that would keep him from biting holes in the beanbag. We aren't able to simply remove it from his reach, so I'm trying to figure out some way of making it bite-proof. We aren't allowed to put things on it that taste horrible, unfortunately, because that would have been a good solution.

Can any of you think of a way to make the exterior of a beanbag bite proof? Thanks for any ideas....

 

[lxskllr]

Kevlar cover.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Not sure if this is the answer that you are looking for.

My son has autism and when he was little he had to chew on things. We would go buy him rubber/plastic dog toys for him to chew on. I specifically remember this giraffe that he loved and had for a couple years. We used to look at the dog toys and say, he can chew on this part here and he will like it.

Good on you for working at this school.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Amazon Link Something like this might work your you. It looks like a bean bag, is colorful and the kid can chew on the legs or ears.

 

[Charmonium]

I have no idea. What I CAN tell you is that some days, it's just not worth chewing thru the restraints.

[Stolen from Emo Philips]

 

[Pohemi]

Most beanbags are vinyl. There are ripstop nylon and also canvas beanbags available that would be more durable, though they obviously aren't free. It wouldn't do much good to replace just one of them specifically for that child. The school would need to replace all of them.

It might not be a bad idea for the facility to do that eventually, but I know funding can be tight in schools, especially those that tend to be smaller.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Sorry, meant beanbag CHAIR. Yes, I think that a thick kevlar would work, or perhaps something like a woven stainless steel with kevlar over it, or integrated into it.

 

[Mai72]

A couple of thoughts...

1. Why not give him something else to chew on?
2. Keep the beanbag out of the student's sight if possible.
3. Setup a behavioral plan where if the student doesn't bit the beanbag he gets to go on a walk, or gets to play 10min on the computer.
4. Eliminate the beanbag chair with ssomething else?

 

[VirtualLarry]

put metal mesh around it.
plug it in. (to a non-lethal power source)
profit???

Edit: Ok, maybe the second step was extreme sarcasm and probably over-the-top. But if it works for pets, why not humans?

 

[Stopsignhank]

A couple of thoughts...

1. Why not give him something else to chew on?
2. Keep the beanbag out of the student's sight if possible.
3. Setup a behavioral plan where if the student doesn't bit the beanbag he gets to go on a walk, or gets to play 10min on the computer.
4. Eliminate the beanbag chair with something else?

Yes. It is much better to redirect the student to chew on something appropriate than to have him chew on some kevlar or stainless steel.

Our son started to go to general education classes during the day. At one of the first IEP's the GE teacher only wanted to talk about how he was chewing up the books in her room. No comments about him learning anything, just that he was chewing up her books. We started to send the dog toys with him to school and that solved the problem. He did not chew up the books and he was able to focus better. Someone should talk to the parents, they probably have something they could send.

Our son always had oral issues. He always had something in his mouth when he was little. He was always chewing or biting on something. My wife and I did the heimlich maneuver on him at separate time. Pretty easy after that to say, if he is going to chew on something it might as well be something big that he cannot choke on. He is 30 now and eventually grew out of it and does not need to chew on things anymore.