You can also use beans, rice . You can also make a smaller one and place it in the microwave an get it warm and use it like the heating pads.

I made a weighted blanket with pellets, using the 'bean bag' method. It worked very well, but will do the next one using Velcro and pockets. I tested the pellets in the washer and dryer, and they came out fine. Here is the website for the pellets. http://www.craftpellets.com/. If I can be of further help, please ask.

I made one of these for my grandson. Purchased the pellets at Joanne's.
 

My grandson is autistic and loves his blanket. So does his sister who is not autistic. The girls in my office want me to make them one. They said it is very soothing to just lay it over them. Good luck with your blanket.

The pellets at WalMart are the same as those used in the purchased blankets.(polypellets) Our Quilt club made some of these blankets for our local schools to use in the classrooms for the younger kids. According to the teachers, they make a big difference.

One of the gals in my Quilt Guild is in charge of Project Linus for our area and they make these weighted blankets, stuffed with sheets. They get shipped all over the country. Stuffing the blanket w/ sheets is great , because they can be removed for laundering, refolded and put back in. She is constantly hunting for sheets at garage sales /asking people to bring them to our Guild meetings,etc. It's a good way to recycle sheets, instead of throwing them away. Ask everyone you know if you can have their old sheets. Fitted sheets work too, since you just cut off the elastic corners.

That is a GREAT idea!!! Thanks!!!

My son is autistic and has come a long way since he was 4. He's almost 11 now. When he was that age, he really liked the feel of regular cotton. Not knits. He liked sweat pants, but seems more comfortable under a quilt than under his weighted blanket. We figured out that he liked the quilt top on the bottom and the backing on the top. I used about a 1/2" seam because I was a new piecer then and didn't want to mess it up. I made a top that was just squares. Then the backing was a VERY HEAVY corduroy. We tie tacked it backwards. He's almost 11 now and he loves that heavy blanket. A pressurized vest could be helpful. I suggest you talk to the OT some more. You could make a couple different ones and then the one she uses all the time would work. When my son was 4 he was non-verbal still, so I could only go off what made him scream versus what let him be quiet.

My daughter made one recently using dried lentils [pretty inexpensive] and flannel. It turned out really we;;.

Thanks everyone! I have a friend who is going to let me try her vest that she had for her son. I am going to try flannel and cotton for her blanket because she likes things soft; she likes to rub it. And I think I will try some plastic tubing for her chewlery (as I have seen it called). I will make a fabric holder for it to keep the drool down and hope that works. She likes the one I made yesterday to rub on but to chew on, I have found out that she likes something hard.

We've had a bad morning today so I hope to try to get the stuff today for the blanket and necklace. Hubby is out of town so I am not sure if I will get a chance to but I would like to try ASAP after the morning I have had with her.

Weighted blankets
 

Our quilt club makes them for autistic kids. We use Fairfield plastic pellets. They are heavy and washable. I have heard of people using beans or rice, but those would not be washable. I have included directions as to how we make them. I had to save it in a different format (doc) so hope it comes through okay; it doesn't even show I have an attachement, so don't know.