Elopement happens when a child runs form an environment that is safe and supervised (Pereira‐Smith et al., 2019). Most children with autism elope after the age of four years. Elopement in autism is critical because the child may not respond to his/her name, understand the dangers surrounding them, and communicate to receive help. Since Joe, in the case study, can manipulate locks at home and elope, reinforcement strategies are required. Posting house rules is one of how the mother can prevent Joe from eloping. One of the rules that should be included is that Joe cannot go outside the house without permission. In addition, his mother should teach him how to respond to his name when called and appreciate or praise him whenever he responds to his name. This will reinforce response to his name when called out. She can practice this by calling Joe’s name while in another room and give reinforcement when he comes and finds her.
Joe’s function is access to tangibles; hence scheduling times when he can have access to the desired item or place is essential in preventing him from eloping. The mother can teach him how to ask for the desired item or area. In addition, she can communicate to him when he is allowed to have access to the item or area. Ensuring that the autistic child gets the item or access to the desired place when told he/she will get it regardless of the situation is essential in reducing or preventing eloping (Andersen et al., 2019). The bottom line for reducing the possibility of eloping is to teach the child the skills required to have access to what they want in the different environments they are in (Andersen et al., 2019). Therefore, if Joe’s mother teaches him how to ask for what he wants and makes the environment conducive, the possibility for elopement will reduce.
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References
Andersen, A. M., Law, J. K., Marvin, A. R., & Lipkin, P. H. (2019). Elopement Patterns and Caregiver Strategies. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders , 50 (6), 2053-2063.
Pereira‐Smith, S., Boan, A., Carpenter, L. A., Macias, M., & LaRosa, A. (2019). Preventing elopement in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research , 12 (7), 1139-1146.
