Autistic children are prone to wandering, a habit which prevents parents from engaging in activities in which they might have trouble keeping track of them. A new study published in the journal Pediatrics reports that nearly half the children with autism have at one time disappeared from their homes (October 8).
Among those families that reported their child to have wandered off, half reported the children were missing long enough to warrant concern. It is said that 62% of those reported wandering prevents the family from engaging in activities outside of the home.
"There are an alarming rate of elopements and it is an incredibly common behavior that children with autism engage in," study author Dr. Paul Law, senior author and director of the Interactive Autism Network (IAN) at the Kennedy Krieger Institute told HealthLandTimes. "They frequently go missing, and often have dangerous encounters."
Researchers speculate on several reasons for the prevalence of the tendency in autistic children including inability to sense danger, a single-minded fascination with arbitrary objects and high levels of anxiety associated with home.
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