word of warning to those of you with older kids

[Jackie]

I thought I would share this tidbit with those of you who are close to where we are now.

Emily has her own bank account with me as a co owner.
She has a bank card/ATM/credit card to go with it.

It has never been a problem except when she was at ENMU and we think once or twice a 'friend' went with her to Walmart and got her make two back to back withdrawals.

But when she was in Austin the other day....she had this long list for Katie of things she wanted off of Napster. Katie kept putting her off...and Em was afraid she wouldnt get the CD burned before returning to Houston. Katie said the last day she came home from work and Emily's card was by the PC...and it was obvious she was attempting to do this herself.....but fortunately you cant get into Napster from Katies computer without passwords.

It has been suggested by Emily's job coach that she get a computer for Christmas. I am comfortable with this...but concerned about her ability to order things online and am wondering how to deal with this. It is a judgement risk we will all confront one day if our kids are given the independence to be in charge of their finances. Emily is pretty reasonable but I am not sure she would be able to know on her own when its prudent to type in your personal info and when its not.

It's nice to know that our kids are capable of figuring out things like this....but scary to think what they could be setting themselves up for. I guess before buying the PC ...we will just have to repeat and repeat the warnings and try to get her to have someone else look at the sites she might want to order from. I do that myself with new ones....get DH to look them over for security first.

Jackie

[SuziF]

Jackie,
I think maybe some of the answer lies in whoever sets it up for Emily. Perhaps approach the internet & finances the way alot of people do with middleschool age kids. Opt for one of those prepay sort of visa cards.They work sort of like a gift certificate. A set amount is put on it.(Maybe that advisor or Katie could be her manager for this so she doesn't feel under your or the Good Dr's thumb) When the balance hits o.oo it needs reupped.
We got Matt a prepay cell phone the same way.That way if it's lost someone can't drain the whole account. If he looses his phone there's maybe $30 on there & then it's done. His computer is the same way. We have a msn account for him that has set controls & automatically filters certain presets.

Suzi

[Jackie]

great idea....I will pass this by Norine.....

Jackie

[MB]

Thank you very much Suzi F and Jackie for this post. This is something that we too are concerned about. I am going to develop IEP goals around this subject.

Thanks for paving the way.

MB

[rickismom]

Gee, I never thought of this--- mostly because in general kids don't use internet...but if someday Ricki gets an account (ten years?8?), she may have a card. (Funny thing is that most of my kids have accounts and credit cards...I'M the one without a credit card!)
But I think this thing on pelephones and accounts is something that I will try to remember. Thanks!

[Jackie]

We who watch television are constantly bombarded with info about going to www. something or other.....and using a credit card to order...so even our kids with DS are not immune to wanting to do this. And once you get to the sites ...you usually dont have to be a rocket scientist to fill in the blanks.

Jackie