Addressing the issue by faking the look of an AA battery is probably not ideal for your child. Have you consulted with your team of professional providers? They likely can suggest a better approach, possibly involving a plan to transition to an alternative, substitute behavior rather than substitute batteries.
Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
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Re: Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
#12Would a fully discharged rechargeable battery be safe?
swallow hazard, and behavior.
Re: Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
#13Maybe see if he likes sour candies? Or bitter things like grapefruit? You could make grapefruit candies. I think the best thing to do would be to find a substitute because continuing with "battery fakes" isn't a long-term solution.
Re: Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
#14I often try to come up with "solutions" when dealing with my kids behavior problems. Like: if they aren't listening and want to stay up late, maybe I should get smart bulbs that I can turn off with my phone.
But I know that this is not actually a solution to the right problem.
Your question has that same "smell". You need to find a way to discourage this behavior, not a workaround for it.
Re: Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
#15Batteries dont typically have exposed copper, but if thats the route you want to go just buy some 1/2 inch copper rod off ebay, its like $12 for 6 inches. Super soft metal, you can work it by hand with a hacksaw and file/sander.
I wonder if your child can taste that subtle electric effect from the battery (ever lick a 9v?)
Re: Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
#16I hate to give this kind of advice cause I don't know how hard you might have it :(
But I don't think you want to train your child that it's ok to chew batteries, the moment you don't look he'll turn to the real stuff with no distinction.
Ours is leaking and chewing everything he finds, including bus railings and the likes. A year ago we started giving him those necklaces with rubber pieces that we tell him are ok to chew. That didn't fix the issue entirely, but noticeably improved things, and now he's asking for these every morning.
Re: Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
#17Good lord!
This is behaviour you need to stop, not encourage!
Frankly, the child's autism has no bearing on the matter. You would not encourage any young child to play with empty packets of drugs or dangerous machinery (even if you have made it safe).
Coat the batteries with a bittering agent. Problem solved.
Re: Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
#18Would applying a bitterant to both fake and real AA batteries help? I don’t have experience working with people on the autistic spectrum but seems like the first priority would be to strongly discourage a habit that could seriously poison / burn the child’s stomach?
I'd agree with that, I'm no autistic kid expert but at some point every kid will be upset about something. Being upset is part of life, learning to deal with it also is. I wouldn't use anything that look like a battery to reinforce his habit, it might be alright for a while but he'll get his hands on a real one at some point and if he hasn't learned that it's a no go he'll chew on it / might swallow it
Re: Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
#19My first thought is that you might want to make some rubber or silicon duplicate batteries to spare his teeth. You can mix in metallic pigments to replicate the color.
There are tutorials on YouTube for prop replica making.
Re: Ask HN: Fake AA batteries, or drain acid from current ones
#20Batteries dont typically have exposed copper, but if thats the route you want to go just buy some 1/2 inch copper rod off ebay, its like $12 for 6 inches. Super soft metal, you can work it by hand with a hacksaw and file/sander. I wonder if your child can taste that subtle electric effect from the battery (ever lick a 9v?)
I definitely did that “touch the tip of the battery thing” as a kid. There was a “pleasant” metallic taste to it. If that’s what’s attracting your kid you may have to recreate that.