You looked away for a moment to pay at the register. When you looked back, your child was gone. Maybe it lasted ten seconds. Maybe it was ten minutes that felt like an hour. Your heart has not slowed down since. If this has happened to you, you are not overreacting. You are not alone.
Common questions from parents
What is elopement in autism?
What should I do first if my autistic child goes missing?
How do I stop my child from bolting at home?
Do GPS trackers help with autism wandering?
In one large survey, about half of autistic children had tried to wander. Here is the safety plan to make before you need it.
How big is the risk when an autistic child wanders?
Wandering means a child leaves a safe place without telling anyone. Some families call it bolting. Doctors call it elopement. One large parent survey asked about it (Anderson et al., 2012). About half of autistic children had tried to wander at least once. Most left from home. Stores and schools came next.
The same study looked closely at the children who went missing. Here is what it found:
- About 2 in 3 were in danger of being hit by traffic.
- About 1 in 4 were in danger of drowning.
- More than half of parents said wandering was one of their hardest parenting worries.
The graphic above puts the drowning figure at 27%. The study reports 24%, and it counts only children who went missing.
Wandering is rarely random. Your child is going toward something. Or away from something that is too much.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Why does my child keep running off?
Wandering is rarely random. A child is usually going toward something, or away from something. The CDC lists the reasons parents give most often. The child loves to run and explore. The child heads for a favorite place, like a park or a pond. The child wants to get away from noise, stress or a demand. The child spots something interesting, like a road sign.
To us, this does not look like boredom or naughtiness. It looks like a child with a goal who does not see the danger. Water needs extra care. Ponds and pools draw some children. Drowning is one of the two main dangers.
Key takeaways
- It is common: About half of autistic children in one large survey had tried to wander.
- Water and traffic are the dangers: Call 911 first, then check water.
- Plan on a calm day: Locks, alarms, ID and a sheet for responders save minutes.
What should be in our wandering safety plan?
You do not need to do all of this at once. Pick one step this week. The CDC’s advice falls into three parts.
Make the home harder to leave.
- Put locks high on outside doors.
- Add door alarms or chimes so you hear a door open.
- Fence the yard, and lock the gate to any pool.
- Use an ID bracelet, or a GPS tracker your child will wear.
Teach the skills that keep a child safe.
- Stop when called. Practice it in calm moments.
- Say or show their name and your phone number.
- Learn to swim, and learn to cross a street.
Have the emergency plan ready.
- Call 911 at once. Do not search alone first.
- Check water first, then favorite places.
- Keep a one-page sheet for responders. Add a recent photo, what calms your child, and places they love.
- Tell neighbors and the school. Ask them to call you right away.
“About half of children and youth with ASD were reported to wander.” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wandering (Elopement), 2026)
You saw the pattern first. Trust that. A plan made on a calm day is what helps on a scary one.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
You know your child better than anyone. You saw the pattern first, so trust that. Families often get judged in the moment and left to work out safety alone. That is the old way, and you do not have to accept it. For the learning side, All Access gives you short sessions with you as the coach. Try All Access free for 7 days.
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You describe what you see at home. We turn it into a plan you start this week.
- Answer 5 short questionnaires about what you already notice, 30–45 minutes at your own kitchen table
- Your child sits no test and gets no score: nothing to schedule, nothing for them to dread
- You do the answering, the AI does the writing, and a person reviews it before it reaches you
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Why we use AI, plainly: it writes from a knowledge base our team maintains and audits. We work through it line by line and pull anything the evidence stops supporting. The roadmap you get on Tuesday reflects what we corrected on Monday, and a human still reads it before you do.
Your school district must evaluate your child free of charge if you ask in writing, whatever your income and whatever the outcome (US, 34 CFR 300.111 and 300.301(b)). That route takes time and answers a different question than you do. This one starts today, from what you already know.
Your answers stay yours. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not hand identifiable assessment data to outside AI companies to train their models.
A screener is a starting point, not a diagnosis. If your child might need formal accommodations (an IEP or 504 plan), or you suspect a vision, hearing or medical cause, pursue a professional evaluation too. That is the only route to those supports.
References
- Anderson, C., Law, J. K., Daniels, A., Rice, C., Mandell, D. S., Hagopian, L., & Law, P. A. (2012). Occurrence and family impact of elopement in children with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics, 130(5), 870-877.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wandering (Elopement). 2026.
