Elopement

[Grandma]

My grandson has autism and is non verbal. He has eloped twice while in the public school system. The school is refusing to provide 1:1 Para for him. This time they stated that he got really far from school.

How do I get the school to agree to 1:1 supervision as part of his IEP.

 

Any advise is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you kindly,

Grandma

[Lisa Lightner]

Probably not the answer you want to hear, but I don't think your grandson needs a 1:1.

What he needs is someone to evaluate, dig deep, and figure out the reason that he's eloping. Is it task avoidance? Is it a sensory break? What is going on, that he just cannot bring himself to sit there for one moment longer, and elopes?

A 1:1 will just pat him on the arm or verbally prompt him to not elope. That's a bandaid fix at best. If you don't get at the root cause, and either offer accommodations, look at environmental changes, or teach him coping mechanisms that are more appropriate (and safer) than eloping, the behavior will never stop.

 

 

[JSD24]

What is the school doing to promote communication?  IMO, if you can get him communicating, you can more readily figure out why he elopes and fix the root cause and that will stop the elopement.  If you want some encouragement with communication, watch Spellers on YouTube.  My friend's son is in this movie.  He's autistic and non-speaking and was identified as intellectually disabled by the school.  Once he started communicating, it seems like the school was wrong about him being intellectually disabled (personally, I feel he's gifted).  His part starts at 46 minutes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h1rcLyznK0