Nearly half of children aged 4-10 years with autism spectrum disorders elope or wander away from safe spaces, and a relatively small percentage of families are receiving advice about the problem from a physician.
Those are the preliminary results from a national survey of 856 parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To reduce bias, the elopement frequency analysis included responses from a preselected group of 490 parents.
The ongoing survey, published April 20 and created by the Interactive Autism Network and other autism awareness and research groups, defines elopement as "the tendency to try to leave safe spaces or a responsible person’s care at age 4 years or older, beyond the toddler years when it is considered normal for a child to bolt from caregivers on a beach or in a store, or to leave the front yard and enter the street."
Among children with autism aged 7-10 years, the rate of elopement was almost 30%, which was eight times higher than for the child’s siblings without an ASD, the survey’s early results show. The elopement rate among children appeared to hit a low during the teen years and then began to rise again.
Nearly half of these wandering attempts succeeded, and in almost a third of these occurrences, the worried parents called the police. Two out of three families reported "close calls" with traffic dangers, and almost a third reported "close calls" with drowning. In addition, 35% of families with children who elope say their children are almost always unable to give their name, address, or phone number.
Fear of elopement restricted family activities for 62% of parents and led to lack of sleep for 40%. Also, 57% found elopement one of the most stressful behaviors for their child. The child’s state of mind during elopement was "playful or happy and focused," according to the parents’ reports. Less than 20% reported that the child felt "anxious" or "sad," and less than 10% said their child was "confused" or "in a fog."
Why do some children with an ASD have a tendency to elope? When offered a list of potential reasons, parents chose the child’s top motivations as a desire to run or explore, an attempt to go somewhere enjoyable, an attempt to escape an "anxious situation," pursuit of a special interest, and an attempt "to escape uncomfortable sensory stimuli." Children who eloped seldom did so to reach a favorite person.
Most of the parents did not see a relationship between the season and the child’s elopement frequency, although 25% did say that their child eloped most often during the summer.
In their efforts to cope with these behaviors, 19% of the parents received advice from a mental health professional, and 14% turned to a pediatrician or other physician. "Clearly, it is crucial that we develop supports and interventions for families coping with elopement behaviors in a child with ASD, and provide information to those community professionals who may receive appeals for help," the report said.
Funding for the survey came from the Autism Research Institute, the Autism Science Foundation, Autism Speaks, and the Global Autism Collaboration. The Interactive Autism Network Project, which is part of the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, receives support from the Simons Foundation, Autism Speaks, and the National Institutes of Health.