Does your SN child run/wander

[Anonymous]

I just spent the day at a museum with my brother, his three year old, and his 7 year old who has autism. My niece loves to wander, run, explore, and climb and keeps my brother on his toes especially in public crowded places. He is great about giving her freedom bur keeping tabs on her. I, on the other hand, get so nervous about her getting lost or hurt! It got me wondering what other parents with similar kids do to ensure their child's safety when they are as adventuresome as my niece.

[Anonymous]

My ASD 6YO is what I call a "containment nightmare". When we're in a grocery store, he'll try to run down ailes and out of my sight. He loves to run and play outside, but doesn't understand how to interpret danger, so running in the street would never cross his mind as something NOT to do.

I'm sure your brother knows his child's limits. I wouldn't worry so much about how he is watching her.

[Anonymous]

Friends have a severely autistic child with an assistance dog. The dog and the child are both "microchipped" with the same frequency and since the dog never leaves the child, there is much less fear when the child wanders.

[Anonymous]

How did you get the microchip? My DD, almost 5, has run away a couple of times in public places: once at the zoo, once in a restaurant. Both times she was actually close by, but she "disappeared" quickly and it took a good effort to find her. It makes me think that all it takes is 5 seconds of me being distracted by another child, or anything else for that matter, before a disaster could happen. We haven't really worked on any behavior therapy or behavior approaches for this yet, but the microchip does seem like a convenient safeguard.

[Anonymous]

Its called "elopement" and is fairly common with kids with ASDs. My DS, who has AS, did this when he was younger. I used to lose him at the mall all the time, I learned not to panic because he always turned up. This stopped when he got older.

[Anonymous]

My ASD son with anxiety has had periods of time when he would bolt. He never did as a younger kid, but now that he's older and the anxiety is so overwhelming and he'll just run. Luckily he has always come back, but it's not a pleasant 5 minutes when he's gone. He seems to be getting better about it again and mostly just runs inside the house (like running to hide instead of taking a bath).