Eloping

We're having growing issues with Jacob "eloping" - apparently the technical term for when he runs away/escapes.

He's been getting into the backyard a LOT. When I've been walking him out to the school bus in front of our house, he'll suddenly dart away and run to look at the bushes by our front windows. He is still being monitored on walks during therapy...only allowed in our court with one IA and has to have two adults with him for walks outside of the court.

I just got a few more reports about alarming "eloping" behavior and have been on the phone this morning to try to address the problem.

Yesterday, the bus driver who brought him home reported to Chris that Jacob had gotten his seat belt unlatched and was climbing over all the seats in the bus. The driver couldn't stop and was on the loud speaker trying to get him to sit back down. Apparently he was giggling and having a grand time. This is the first time he's taken his seat belt off and I KNOW he is going to be trying to do it more, now that he had such a wonderful time of it.

I have a call in to the school district to amend his IEP so that he has to be in a harness for now. We don't want that to be the case forever, but until we get his behavior under control it will keep him safe. I also spoke with his clinical supervisor and we are going to check into having an IA ride to and from school with him to help reinforce good behavior.

His IA this morning also told me that last week when she wasn't there, the substitute IA somehow missed the bus when Jacob was dropped off. Because she wasn't there waiting for him, the driver took him off the bus to walk him to the classroom. Jacob ran away (excuse me..."eloped") into the parking lot and she had to run after him to catch him. This was really dangerous...his preschool is in a shopping center lot and there are always lots of cars.

Again, I am asking for an amendment to his IEP so that he cannot get off the bus unless his teacher or IA are there to physically take him by the hand when he gets off. That should help in the case of substitutes, both for his drivers and his IAs.

As if this weren't enough, he also climbed a chain link fence at school yesterday. His IA said he was all the way up to the point where his belly was at the top. His IA was taking pictures of students that are needed for a drill and turned around to see him up there. SNEAKY guy! She also found him in the vegetable garden at school last week...this is a fenced area that joins the preschool play yard. Turns out that the gate had been left open, so he didn't climb anything. But he DID leave the area he was supposed to be in.

This behavior is making me really nervous. I know that his clinical supervisor is hard at work on some methods to get him back under control and she has always been able to help us do that before, so I have faith we'll get there. I am just praying that he is safe until we get there.