What Can I Do to Prevent My Autistic Child from Wandering Off?
Have you ever stepped out to the backyard and found the gate opened and your son nowhere to be seen? Have you ever gone to bed anxious about your child waking up before you and sneaking out of the house?
You are not alone in worrying about autistic wandering. In fact, elopement among autistic individuals is a fairly common concern.
When we started worrying about our son’s attempts to wander from home, I found great comfort and ideas from chatting with other parents of neurodivergent kids. I was surprised to realize that half of us had kids who had escaped from home at some point in time.
However, after doing some research on the topic, I realized our situation exactly reflected the autistic elopement statistics.
Autism & Elopement
A US national survey conducted by Interactive Autism Network (IAN) on elopement behavior in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) concluded that 49% of the children participating in the study had engaged in elopement behavior at least once after the age of 4.
To take the worry one notch up, some autistic kids may be non-speaking so they will not have the ability to communicate names, addresses or phone numbers. Even when they are verbal, they may still feel anxious when interacting with strangers, or they simply don’t know their addresses and phone numbers.
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Why Do Autistic Kids Wander Off?
Parents who participated in the above-mentioned research stated the following reasons for their children eloping:
- Enjoys running or exploring
- Tries to reach a place he/she enjoys
- Tries to escape an anxious situation
- Pursues his/her special topic
- Tries to escape uncomfortable sensory stimuli
What Can we Do to Prevent Autistic Wandering?
I’ve put together a list of all the tips and strategies discussed with other parents of wandering kids. I have also done plenty of research to explore other options available to us.
So, if you also have a kid who is at risk of wandering off, these are some things you may consider doing.
Note: I am not recommending specific products or brands. I am listing them for your reference. Please conduct your own research to determine what works best for you and your family.)
Related reading: AUTISM GPS TRACKER: How to Choose the Best GPS Tracker for your Kid
AUTISTIC ELOPEMENT: 35 TIPS TO PREVENT WANDERING
I’ve categorized the tips and strategies for preventing autistic elopement and ensuring children’s safety into these key areas:
- Securing the house
- Discouraging elopement
- Preventive measures (Preparing for the possibility of elopement)
- Living in the community
- Traveling
- School & autistic elopement
- Final Considerations
Securing the House for Autistic Elopement:
- Securing the Bedroom
A child may wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning and wander off. You need to be able to go to bed knowing that they will be safe. These are some of the options to secure your child´s bedroom:
1. Battery-operated alarms for doors. Mini alarms can be really useful. If your kid wakes up earlier than you and wanders out of the bedroom, the alarm will trigger as soon as he/she opens the door. Some of them have a “chime” setting, which is nice, since you may not want a 120-decibel alarm mode that is great for an intruder but would really scare the little ones.
2. An enclosed bed. An enclosed bed with a locking system prevents unattended wandering. You can find this type of bed both as a standard bed or a portable one to take with you when you travel.
3. A sensor pad on the bed with an alarm. An alarm will be triggered when your kid gets up from the bed.
4. A sensor pad on the floor, so that an alarm is triggered as soon as he steps out of bed. They often use them with elderly people, but why not with the little ones.
5. A wander alarm with motion detector– It can detect movement in the bedroom or hallway and can alert you if your child tries to leave the room.
6. If your child´s bedroom is on the ground floor, you will also need to secure bedroom windows. Depending on what type of windows you have, this could be achieved through window latches or locks.
- Around the house
These are some examples of measures you can take to secure the house exit points:
7. Deadbolts for the exit doors, so that they could only be opened with a key-
8. Keypad door locks – so that anybody trying to exit from the house needs to input a code.
9. Battery-operated alarms for sliding doors into the yard
10. An enclosed fence around the house.
11. Padlocks /locks for the gate
Discouraging Strategies to Prevent Your Autistic Child from Wandering Off
12. Stop Signs by the door that may serve in cases to remind them they are not expected to leave the house.
13. Social Stories about the Safety of Staying at Home that emphasize how staying at home keeps you safe and makes your parents happy. Here, you can see an example provided by The National Autism Association.
Preventive Measures: Preparing for the Possibility of Elopement
“Hope for the best; prepare for the worst”
14. Be ready with updated leaflets with some basic information:
- Your contact details
- A picture of your child
- Your child´s name and how he likes to be addressed
- Physical description
- Tips on how to talk to them and how to help them calm down
15. Prepare an emergency plan. Some of the things that may be useful to discuss in advance and be ready to action:
- How you and your spouse /partner will get in touch with each other
- What calls will be made (police, neighbors)
- What places should be checked first (any dangerous place near the house – rivers, high traffic areas, their favorite places, …)
16. Alert trusted neighbors
17. Inform the school. Provide them with leaflets and discuss the emergency plan.
18. Alert your local police or neighborhood watch. After a couple of wandering incidents, one of the parents in my group decided to leave mug shots of her child at our local police station so that they could better and speedily respond if necessary.
19. Consider using a child tracking device.
A child GPS tracker will not prevent your child from wandering off. But it is probably one of the best tips you will ever receive. Knowing that you can check your child’s exact location in your app is just priceless.
Some of the things that you need to consider are:
- Will they be ok wearing a device, or will they try to remove it
- Does it need to be water-resistant
- Is the mobile network in the areas they frequent working consistently (lots of the devices use geotracking)
- Is it battery-operated, and if so, how long does the battery last?
- Are they always at risk of eloping, or are there specific situations that trigger the attempts
There are a lot of options here, so just to mention some examples:
- GPS Wearables (pouch, belt, shirt) like the ones developed by AngelSense.
AngelSense is probably the best child tracking option in the market. With a 30-day money-back policy, it is a risk-free opportunity. Don´t miss out on it!
Check it out HERE.
And if you are seriously looking for a GPS tracker to keep your child safe, do not miss this article:
AUTISM GPS TRACKER: How to Choose the Best GPS Tracker for Your Kid - Kids´Shoe Tag MedicAlert
- Watches with location trackers
20. Wristbands with contact details and important information. ID bands can communicate:
- Critical information (I’m autistic, I have seizures, diabetes, I am non-speaking, etc.)
- Who to call in case of emergency
21. Lost & Found Tattoos. Some kids will remove tracking devices or bands, so another clever and effective way to provide critical information if they get lost can be lost and found tattoos.
22. A safety wristband that ties you to your child. If you have a runner and you are going to be in a crowded place, this is another potential option.
23. Service Dogs. A service dog can not only be an amazing companion but a great help to prevent runners succeed. If you are out and about and your child tries to run away, the service dog to which your child is attached will just stop, preventing his/her escape.
Living in the Community: Safety Tips
24. Teach them about road crossing
25. Enroll your child in swimming lessons. This recommendation is an important one, as many children with autism are drawn to water.
Preventing Elopement When Traveling
26. Carry portable locks
School & Autistic Elopement
27. Secure the environment:
- Upgrade to secure fencing, alarmed gates, and/or doors that require a passcode or access pass
- Ensuring play areas and building entrances are safely enclosed.
28. Staff Training: Educate all staff on autism, elopement risks, and response strategies.
29. Individual Safety Plans: Create tailored safety plans for students with a tendency to wander off, involving parents in the process.
30. Safe Zones: Set up sensory-friendly areas where overwhelmed students can calm down.
31. Parent-School Communication: Improve collaboration with parents by sharing strategies and insights, fostering open communication for timely updates on potential triggers or incidents that could increase elopement risk.
Final Considerations When Your Child is a “Runner”
32. Stay alert. Elopement can happen at any time, so just be aware and let family and caretakers know that they should always keep an eye on your kid both at home and when they are doing outdoor activities.
33. In big gatherings, always designate a person to monitor your child. Take turns and always make sure it is clear who is responsible at all times.
34. If possible, identify elopement reasons and try to address them. Just to share some examples:
- If they love water, make sure they often go to the swimming pool. Make it part of a schedule they know well
- If they have a special interest, include that in their routines so that they do not need to elope to access it.
- If their escapes are linked to specific stimuli/situations, try to prevent them.
35. Teach them how to respond if they get lost (e.g., Show your wristband to an adult)
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Other Autism-Related Articles
- Autism & Head Banging: How to Prevent It / Minimize Harm
- Autism & Anxiety: Triggers and Calming Strategies
Did you find some of these tips useful to help prevent your autistic child from wandering off?
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Mr. A and I were just talking about these kinds of strategies a couple hours ago. After coming across your post, I read it with him and you had a bunch of suggestions we hadn’t come across yet. Although we’re not there yet, it’s only because Monkey (4) doesn’t yet have the strength to open doors to the outside. I’m glad to have so many ideas in our pocket for when we need them.
Thanks for your comment, Anna. One of the things I enjoyed about writing this post is the number of new ideas I came across. I´m glad you found it useful.
My son (3) hasn’t been diagnosed as autistic yet but has shown many autistic tendencies, including a speech delay. I woke up terrified one morning when I noticed that the front door to our house was open and he was nowhere to be found. He managed to unlock both locks on the front door and, after a search with the police, he was found unharmed. It is a real and terrifying experience and I have had to install another lock on the very top of the door that he can’t reach it. (He, however, has been trying to reach the lock with a chair.) A friend of the family also suggested putting bells on the doorknobs of the house. I am so thankful for finding this blog and reading these new ideas!
Athena, Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. It is such a terrifying experience. I’m really happy you found these ideas helpful. I started doing research after our little one escaped through the fence a couple of times. Luckily we realised as soon as it happened (and found him knocking at the neighbors’ whom we didn’t know). It was also an eye opening experience to talk to other Moms and realise how often wandering happens.
Take care!
Can you provide more tips on school based elopement–usually caused by stressor to avoid task, request, or as you stated tries to escape an anxious situation and tries to escape uncomfortable sensory stimuli. Our campus staff just can’t seem to understand why our Autism children elope!
Thanks
Thanks for your comment, Donna. I’ve added a few school related tips after your comment 👍