Children on the autism spectrum may struggle with elopement. “Elopement” refers to the tendency of a child on the autism spectrum to wander or leave a location where they are expected to be, such as a classroom or inside the home, without supervision and without a parent’s or caregiver’s knowledge. This may stem from multiple stimuli, including the child’s desire to get to something they have seen and would like to explore, or avoiding overstimulation or sensory triggers. Elopement can be frightening for many parents and caregivers. For example, a child on the autism spectrum may not be able to comprehend dangers around them that can lead to accidents, or may not be able to respond to their name to return to the appropriate location when called. By teaching your child how to stay in a desired location (for example, home or classroom), you can decrease the risks that your child faces when they have left a designated area. 

The following strategies can help to decrease the risk of elopement:

• Modify your home environment. One of the most immediate things you can do to decrease your child’s elopement is to modify your home environment. This is important to ensure the most pressing safety needs of your child. Ensure that all entrances and exits in your home are secured; invest in a security system; or attach bells or chimes to doors and windows to receive real-time alerts if your child leaves the home unattended. Also, consider what aspects of your home might be triggering your child to want to elope. This is referred to as the setting. Is there a particular scent that is overstimulating, or too many people present, or loud music playing? Consider modifying whatever aspect of your home might be behind the function of your child’s elopement behavior.
• Determine the antecedent. An antecedent of behavior is a stimulus event, situation, or circumstance that precedes that behavior. In other words, an antecedent is what was happening or what / who was present right before a specific behavior occurred. An antecedent could be a loud noise, a change in routine, the denial of access to an item or activity, the presentation of a task, or any other event, situation, or circumstance that precedes your child’s behavior. Determining the antecedent to your child’s elopement behavior can help you modify your home environment, and determine the function of your child’s behavior, in order to work on decreasing your child’s risk of elopement.
• Determine the “function” of the behavior. A Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) may be helpful. There may be multiple functions of elopement behavior that vary in different settings. Is your child trying to acquire an item that they saw and wanted? Or is your child eloping to try to communicate something to adults nearby? Once you determine the motivation behind the behavior, you may be more aware of when a trigger occurs and be able to prevent it. Additionally, determining the function of your child’s elopement is the first step to helping them replace this behavior. 
• Teach Functional Communication Training (FCT). Once you begin to understand the function behind your child’s elopement behavior, you can aim to replace elopement with new ways of communicating that achieve the same goal. This is called Functional Communication Training (FCT). For example, if your child tends to elope when overstimulated by noisy environments, you might teach them to communicate that they need noise-canceling headphones, or access to a quiet space, or simply to take a break. In this way, your child learns to communicate what they need instead of eloping. FCT can support verbal communication, signing, gestures, the use of images or PECS®, an AAC device, or any other communication strategy that works for you and your child.   
• Try a three-prong approach. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend a three-prong approach to manage elopement: 

1. Plan. Have a plan that includes monitoring your child for triggers; have an emergency plan in place; secure potential exit routes from the home; maintain up-to-date information by which your child can be identified (for example, photos and description of clothing).
2. Prevent. Take preventative measures before elopement occurs, including notifying community members, neighbors, and first responders of your child’s tendency to elope.
3. Teach Safety Skills. Teach your child safety precautions in the event that elopement does occur, such as swimming skills and street crossing. As your child masters safety skills and concepts, provide positive reinforcement, praise, and encouragement. 

• Use games to teach safety skills. You can use games to help teach your child a number of different safety skills, just in case an elopement does occur. For example, you can use a simple game of “go go stop” to teach your child to stop when they hear the word “stop.” In this game, the only rule is when the word “stop” is said, everyone must stop. You can run, walk, skip, or do any other fun movement with your child while saying “go, go, go” but when “stop” is said, everyone must freeze where they’re at.  
• Provide a visual reminder. Place signs with the word “stop” or an image that your child understands to mean “stop” at exits throughout your home. Practice! Make it a game to play stop and go, where your child must STOP when they reach the exit with the sign. Provide positive reinforcement and reward your child when they stop. Encouragement can be given in the form of a favorite toy or snack or verbal praise. 
• Additional Resources:

For parents:

Reducing Wandering & Elopement

Functional Communication Training (FCT)

18 Safety Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners

Decreasing Eloping from a Noisy Grocery Store / Replacing with “Asking for a Break”

A-B-Cs Groundwork: Identify and consider the following:

1. The interfering behavior that should be decreased and concurrently replaced with an acceptable behavior. For example, if your child elopes, their eloping should be decreased / replaced with an acceptable behavior (e.g., asking for a break).
2. The environment or setting in which the interfering behavior occurs / is triggered, if relevant. For example, your child elopes when your child is in the grocery store.
3. Any antecedent or other stimulus (e.g., a trigger) that causes your child to exhibit the interfering behavior, if relevant. For example, your child elopes when the grocery store is too noisy for them.
4. The function of your child’s interfering behavior. For example, your child elopes in order to escape noise.
5. The skill that you would like your child to learn in order to decrease or replace the interfering behavior. For example, you would like your child to ask for a break instead of eloping.
6. How you might simulate the environment and / or stimulus which results in your child displaying the interfering behavior, in order to work with your child towards decreasing / replacing the interfering behavior. For example, if you would like your child to ask for a break instead of eloping when the grocery store is too noisy, consider playing a video of ambient grocery store noise, playing the sounds of a grocery store checkout lane and / or playing grocery store sound effects, as applicable. 
7. Optional: Model for or explain to your child the desired behavior change. For example, modeling or explaining the acquisition of the skill of asking for a break within a noisy grocery store in order to replace eloping could employ the following strategies:

•      --->      Communicate to your child that when the grocery store is very noisy, they should ask for a break instead of eloping. 

•      --->      Use whatever communication strategy works best for your child, and role-play asking for a break. You can turn on a low (non-triggering) sound level, then model or explain asking for a break using your child’s preferred method of communication, followed by immediately turning off the sound after asking for a break. This will allow your child to observe how asking for a break causes the noise to go away.

•      --->      Provide your child with whatever suitable means they need to communicate asking for a break.

“Asking for a Break”: Teach this skill to replace Elopement.

• Step 1: Decide what skill acquisition goal or target you would like your child to practice for replacing the interfering behavior. For example, you can choose the skill acquisition goal of asking for a break for replacing elopement. The task analysis for the skill acquisition target of asking for a break from a noisy grocery store could be as follows:

•      --->      Simulate a modified / tolerable version of a noisy grocery store by playing a video of ambient grocery store noise, playing the sounds of a grocery store checkout lane and / or playing grocery store sound effects, as applicable.

•      --->      Your child should ask for a break when the simulated noise of the grocery store bothers them.

•      --->      As soon as your child asks for a break from the noisy grocery store, eliminate the simulated store noise instantaneously.

Note: As your child consistently displays the replacement behavior of asking for a break from a noisy grocery store, slowly increase the time between when your child makes the request and when you eliminate the grocery store sounds in small intervals (1 second, 2 seconds, 5 seconds, etc.). This will help your child learn to wait in instances when you cannot eliminate the grocery store sounds immediately.

•      --->      Provide a great deal of verbal praise after turning off grocery store sounds. Note that for interfering behavior replacement goals, positive reinforcement such as a favorite snack or toy should not be used. For interfering behavior replacement goals, the removal of the antecedent or stimulus or providing what your child asked for is the reward and should be provided as instantaneously as possible. 

• Step 2: An initial / specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as an image of a grocery store, or a verbal SD (“Time to practice asking for a break from a noisy grocery store!” or “Let’s practice asking for a break when the grocery store is too noisy!”).
• Step 3: Collect baseline level data for the skill acquisition target (i.e., asking for a break in a noisy grocery store) by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt their part independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. As an example, you can count how many times your child is able to complete their part of the task analysis independently (i.e., successful attempts). Note that this baseline collection data step is for the skill acquisition target, and baseline level data for the interfering behavior may already be present in your child’s treatment plan.
• Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the skill acquisition target (i.e., asking for a break from a noisy grocery store), provide the SD from Step 2, follow the task analysis from Step 1, and allow your child to attempt their part independently. When your child is successful, instantaneously grant their request, for example, instantaneously turn off the grocery store noises. You can then, if appropriate, provide verbal praise for your child, such as saying, “Good job at asking for a break from a noisy grocery store!”. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to ask for a break from a noisy grocery store, for example as suggested immediately above under Item g in A-B-Cs Groundwork). Note that for interfering behavior replacement goals, positive reinforcement such as a favorite snack or toy should not be used. For these goals, the removal of the antecedent or stimulus or providing what your child has asked for is the reward and should be provided instantaneously. 
• Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress on the skill acquisition target of asking for a break from a noisy grocery store. For example, track progress by counting how many times your child is able to complete their part of the task analysis independently (i.e., successful attempts). Alternatively, count how many times your child is unable to complete their part of the task analysis independently (i.e., unsuccessful attempts).
• Step 6: Collect data on how your child makes progress on decreasing elopement. For example, count the number of instances your child elopes instead of asking for a break from a noisy grocery store over a certain period of time (e.g., a session, a certain number of sessions, etc.). Alternatively, count the number of instances your child elopes when in a noisy grocery store over a certain time period (e.g., 1 month, 3 months, etc.).

Decreasing Eloping when Reading for Homework / Replacing with “Asking for Help”

A-B-Cs Groundwork: Identify and consider the following:

1. The interfering behavior that should be decreased and concurrently replaced with an acceptable behavior. For example, if your child elopes, their eloping should be decreased / replaced with an acceptable behavior (e.g., asking for help).
2. The environment or setting in which the interfering behavior occurs / is triggered, if relevant. For example, your child elopes when your child is doing their homework.
3. Any antecedent or other stimulus (e.g., a trigger) that causes your child to exhibit the interfering behavior, if relevant. For example, your child elopes when doing their reading homework.
4. The function of your child’s interfering behavior. For example, your child elopes in order to escape doing their reading homework.
5. The skill that you would like your child to learn in order to decrease or replace the interfering behavior. For example, you would like your child to ask for help instead of eloping.
6. How you might simulate the environment and / or stimulus which results in your child displaying the interfering behavior, in order to work with your child towards decreasing / replacing the interfering behavior. For example, if you would like your child to ask for help instead of eloping when feeling overwhelmed by their reading homework, consider simulating a modified / tolerable version of completing their reading homework by breaking down the task into smaller parts, such as, reading one paragraph at a time and / or reading for one distinct time block (e.g., five minutes) at a time, as applicable. 
7. Optional: Model for or explain to your child the desired behavior change. For example, modeling or explaining the acquisition of the skill of asking for help with their reading homework in order to replace eloping could employ the following strategies:

•      --->      Communicate to your child that when they are overwhelmed by their reading homework, they should ask for help instead of eloping. 

•      --->      Use whatever communication strategy works best for your child, and role-play asking for help. You can simulate a reading task, then model or explain asking for help using your child’s preferred method of communication, followed by immediately removing part of the reading task after asking for help. This will allow your child to observe how asking for help causes the overwhelming reading task to go away.

•      --->      Provide your child with whatever suitable means they need to communicate asking for help.

“Asking for Help”: Teach this skill to replace Elopement.

• Step 1: Decide what skill acquisition goal or target you would like your child to practice for replacing the interfering behavior. For example, you can choose the skill acquisition goal of asking for help for replacing elopement. The task analysis for the skill acquisition target of asking for help when feeling overwhelmed by reading homework could be as follows:

•      --->      Simulate a modified / tolerable version of overwhelming reading homework by printing out a reading assignment, making sure it is on multiple pages, and / or stapling or using a paper clip to attach the pages together, as applicable.

•      --->      Ask your child to complete the reading assignment.

•      --->      Your child should ask for help when the reading assignment bothers them.

•      --->      As soon as your child asks for help, remove all but the first page or paragraph, as applicable, of the reading assignment instantaneously.

Note: As your child consistently displays the replacement behavior of asking for help, slowly increase the time between when your child makes the request and when you eliminate the overwhelming reading assignment in small intervals (1 second, 2 seconds, 5 seconds, etc.) This will help your child learn to wait in instances when you cannot eliminate the overwhelming reading assignment immediately.

•      --->      Provide a great deal of verbal praise after removing  the overwhelming reading assignment. Note that for interfering behavior replacement goals, positive reinforcement such as a favorite snack or toy should not be used. For interfering behavior replacement goals, the removal of the antecedent or stimulus or providing what your child asked for is the reward and should be provided as instantaneously as possible. 

• Step 2: An initial / specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as a picture of a book, or a verbal SD (“Time to practice asking for help while doing reading homework!” or “Let’s practice asking for help when doing reading homework!”).
• Step 3: Collect baseline level data for the skill acquisition target (i.e., asking for help when doing reading homework) by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt their part independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. As an example, you can count how many times your child is able to complete their part of the task analysis independently (i.e., successful attempts). Note that this baseline collection data step is for the skill acquisition target, and baseline level data for the interfering behavior may already be present in your child’s treatment plan.
• Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the skill acquisition target (i.e., asking for help when doing reading homework), provide the SD from Step 2, follow the task analysis from Step 1, and allow your child to attempt their part independently. When your child is successful, instantaneously grant their request, for example, instantaneously remove the majority of the overwhelming reading assignment. You can then, if appropriate, provide verbal praise for your child, such as saying, “Good job at asking for help when doing reading homework!” If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to ask for help when doing reading homework, for example as suggested immediately above under Item g in A-B-Cs Groundwork). Note that for interfering behavior replacement goals, positive reinforcement such as a favorite snack or toy should not be used. For these goals, the removal of the antecedent or stimulus or providing what your child has asked for is the reward and should be provided instantaneously. 
• Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress on the skill acquisition target of asking for help when doing reading homework. For example, track progress by counting how many times your child is able to complete their part of the task analysis independently (i.e., successful attempts). Alternatively, count how many times your child is unable to complete their part of the task analysis independently (i.e., unsuccessful attempts).
• Step 6: Collect data on how your child makes progress on decreasing eloping. For example, count the number of instances your child elopes when overwhelmed by reading homework instead of asking for help over a certain period of time (e.g., a session, a certain number of sessions, etc.). Alternatively, count the number of instances your child elopes when practicing reading homework over a certain time period (e.g., 1 month, 3 months, etc.).

Decreasing Eloping When at the Park / Replacing with “Asking for Attention”

A-B-Cs Groundwork: Identify and consider the following:

1. The interfering behavior that should be decreased and concurrently replaced with an acceptable behavior. For example, if your child elopes, their eloping should be decreased / replaced with an acceptable behavior (e.g., asking for attention).
2. The environment or setting in which the interfering behavior occurs / is triggered, if relevant. For example, your child elopes when your child is at the park.
3. Any antecedent or other stimulus (e.g., a trigger) that causes your child to exhibit the interfering behavior, if relevant. For example, your child elopes when they want to play tag at the park.
4. The function of your child’s interfering behavior. For example, your child elopes in order to be chased (gain attention).
5. The skill that you would like your child to learn in order to decrease or replace the interfering behavior. For example, you would like your child to ask for attention instead of eloping.
6. How you might simulate the environment and / or stimulus which results in your child displaying the interfering behavior, in order to work with your child towards decreasing / replacing the interfering behavior. For example, if you would like your child to ask to play tag instead of eloping when at the park, consider simulating a modified / tolerable version of not giving your child attention while at the park by acting distracted in an enclosed playground, talking to another adult while in an enclosed playground and / or reading a book while in an enclosed playground, as applicable. 
7. Optional: Model for or explain to your child the desired behavior change. For example, modeling or explaining the acquisition of the skill of asking to play tag while at the park in order to replace eloping could employ the following strategies:

•      --->      Communicate to your child that when you are distracted while at the park, they should ask for attention instead of eloping. 

•      --->      Use whatever communication strategy works best for your child, and role-play asking for attention. You can act distracted in an enclosed playground, then model or explain asking for attention using your child’s preferred method of communication, followed by immediately chasing your child in a game of tag after they ask for attention. This will allow your child to observe how asking for attention causes your inattention to go away.

•      --->      Provide your child with whatever suitable means they need to communicate asking for attention.

“Asking for Attention”: Teach this skill to replace Elopement.

• Step 1: Decide what skill acquisition goal or target you would like your child to practice for replacing the interfering behavior. For example, you can choose the skill acquisition goal of asking for attention for replacing elopement. The task analysis for the skill acquisition target of asking to play tag while at the park could be as follows:

•      --->      Simulate a modified / tolerable version of not giving your child attention while at the park by acting distracted in an enclosed playground, talking to another adult while in an enclosed playground and / or reading a book while in an enclosed playground, as applicable.

•      --->      Your child should ask to play tag when your inattention bothers them.

•      --->      As soon as your child asks to play tag, eliminate your inattention instantaneously and begin playing tag with them by chasing them.

Note: As your child consistently displays the replacement behavior of asking to play tag, slowly increase the time between when your child makes the request and when you eliminate your inattention by chasing them in small intervals (1 second, 2 seconds, 5 seconds, etc.) This will help your child learn to wait in instances when you cannot eliminate your inattention by chasing them immediately.

•      --->      Provide a great deal of verbal praise after eliminating your inattention. Note that for interfering behavior replacement goals, positive reinforcement such as a favorite snack or toy should not be used. For interfering behavior replacement goals, the removal of the antecedent or stimulus or providing what your child asked for is the reward and should be provided as instantaneously as possible. 

• Step 2: An initial / specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as an image of two children playing tag, or a verbal SD (“Time to practice asking to play tag!” or “Let’s practice asking for attention!”).
• Step 3: Collect baseline level data for the skill acquisition target (i.e., asking to play tag by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt their part independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. As an example, you can count how many times your child is able to complete their part of the task analysis independently (i.e., successful attempts). Note that this baseline collection data step is for the skill acquisition target, and baseline level data for the interfering behavior may already be present in your child’s treatment plan.
• Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the skill acquisition target (i.e., asking to play tag), provide the SD from Step 2, follow the task analysis from Step 1, and allow your child to attempt their part independently. When your child is successful, instantaneously grant their request, for example, instantaneously provide them with attention by chasing them in a game of tag. You can then, if appropriate, provide verbal praise for your child, such as saying, “Good job at asking to play tag!”. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to ask to play tag, for example as suggested immediately above under Item g in A-B-Cs Groundwork). Note that for interfering behavior replacement goals, positive reinforcement such as a favorite snack or toy should not be used. For these goals, the removal of the antecedent or stimulus or providing what your child has asked for is the reward and should be provided instantaneously. 
• Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress on the skill acquisition target of asking to play tag. For example, track progress by counting how many times your child is able to complete their part of the task analysis independently (i.e., successful attempts). Alternatively, count how many times your child is unable to complete their part of the task analysis independently (i.e., unsuccessful attempts).
• Step 6: Collect data on how your child makes progress on decreasing elopement. For example, count the number of instances your child elopes when wanting to play tag instead of asking to play tag over a certain period of time (e.g., a session, a certain number of sessions, etc.). Alternatively, count the number of instances your child elopes when you are not giving them attention at the park over a certain time period (e.g., 1 month, 3 months, etc.).