Half Of Children With Autism Wander, Study Says

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I used to wander...a lot. When I lived with my father it wasn't really a problem. (We lived in the country and my parents weren't really parental material, so while it was definitely dangerous (we had a pond, cows, other critters, etc.) they didn't really care enough to notice.) However, when I lived with my grandmother, it was quite different. (We lived in town, in an apartment complex that had a field behind it.) When my grandmother was home, I had to check-in every about every hour or she would go into panic mode. Once walked to the city (about 15 miles from town) and my grandmother was livid when I got back. She was just about to ring the police and it wasn't too long after that incident that I was "rewarded" with my very own leash/harness. I loathed the thing and learned to escape from it pretty quickly so it was short lived (but it did work, for a while and I can understand now why she got it, so I don't look down upon those who choose to use one). I also had a thing for bolting into large bodies of water (that's actually how I learned to swim, because I bolted towards water during a flood and, literally, had to either sink or swim) and pathways (especially busy highways) and climbing out windows (we lived on the second story).

I don't know why, I just know that I, for some reason, felt the urge to. I stopped bolting after my younger sister saw me do it once and decided to try it at church that night (although she was running towards my family's car). I screamed at her to stop and luckily she did (something I almost never did - mainly because I didn't process/hear them.) I also stopped climbing out windows (at least when people were around) when she, again, tried to emulate my actions and, again, luckily I got to her in time. (She's neurotypical, she just liked to emulate me; still does some times, although she'll never admit it.) I felt such an immense amount of guilt over it and was so frightened during those moments that I realized what my grandmother must have felt like so I just stopped doing it. (In fact, it appeared that I "grew out" of most of my non-neurotypical behavior after my sister was born but in all actuality, she just became my obsession and my intense focus on protecting her was stronger than my urges to engage in said behaviors. Throughout the years, she has been the cause of some of my meltdowns, but she's also the reason I was able to gain as much control over them as I have now.)

Thinking back on my life, I'm just grateful that most of my wandering happened when I lived with my father or when my grandmother was at work and that my sister took my focus off my impulses because otherwise, I probably would have driven her insane. I also can't help but wonder how I even survived my childhood (even excluding the abuse).

I wandered once, didn't do it again. Not sure why.

Clothes racks were always such great places - kind of like the goldenrods. But I wasn't allowed to get into them the way I wanted to...

I never really wandered of, but as a little child my mom lost me more than once, because I was very dreamy just standing around, watching details in the supermarket or some place else and didn't notice that my mom continued walking. I got very nervous and usually coninued staying there, were she lost me.

But I guess my mom has some ADHD tendencies and can be very unconcentrated and spontanious. This added to the situation.

Mine does this and I have been called in to CPS because of it, despite trying my best to keep tabs on him. A parent has to go to the bathroom, etc sometime!!

My youngest two liked to wander as well when they were younger.

Our youngest especially; he - not the newly adopted Greyhound - was the reason we fenced in the yard!

Honestly it was a sanity-saver for me as they often wandered in different directions at the same time!

Thank goodness for our oldest dog, a German Shepherd with strong but gentle herding instincts - he'd kiss them into the right direction!

He was so happy to have the yard fenced in, he literally sighed in relief the first time he went around the new fence's perimeter (about 2/3 acre area attached to the back door).

It is easier now, DyS likes the security of holding hands when in public - gives him a chance to snuggle too. And DmS is easily redirected with a word or two.

I didn't just wander, I went on epic travels!

It started when I was three and got progressively worse as I got older. I used to head either for the train tracks or the river and stay there for hours and hours.

When I turned six my drunk, pill addled female parental unit decided the best thing to do with her bingo winnings was to buy me a bike and teach me how to use it...... dumb idea... I would ride my bike from St Catharines to Niagara Falls or from St Catharines to Toronto or from St Catharines to Port Colborne... Plus many many many side trips in between... Every morning I would wake up and sneak out of the house to start a new adventure.

It got so bad that the cops would threaten my parents. If the cop that brought me home was a funny guy he would threaten to start charging for the delivery service, if it was a mean cop that brought me home he would threaten my parents with Family and Social Services, to have me taken away. (I still think I would have been better off if he had)

They stopped calling the police when they realized I would always come back when I got hungry enough and I wasn't able to find any food on my own or if I got to cold. Then they just stopped caring altogether.

My wanderlust continued into adulthood. I've been everywhere in Canada, on my own mostly. Driven back and forth across the entire country dozens of times, just did it again last week, took a 10 day road trip to southern Ontario and back home again, 7500+Km. One section of the drive there I did 24 hours non-stop other than for gas and washroom breaks. Drove the entire trip myself less two hours Hubby took the wheel so I could eat and try to relieve a hip cramp. He couldn't go any further as he hasn't driven over 70kph in ten years as I do ALL the highway driving. We stayed in the van for the first seven days of the trip, it got to cold to stay in the van on the way home so we used motels twice. Stupid winter storm in Wawa and Kenora.

I've been to Barbados, Venezuela, Paris, London, Backpacking in Scotland, here and there in the USA before things got out of control, I once drove from Niagara Falls to Boston for pizza, just to see if it really was as advertized.

For the last 12 years I've had a traveling companion, my Hubby. He navigates for me, keeps me supplied with energy drink, reminds me to take breaks and keeps me fed, helps me get around in public by giving me tasks to do when we stop for fuel. IE: "Fill it up, check the oil, go pee, grab a drink or two, and whatever snack you want and I'll meet you at the till". He gives me tasks and lists to do all the time. Weve been all over Alberta and B.C. In all types of vehicles.

We once got a market research job to be secret shoppers for the Alberta Tourism board, going to all of the Alberta Tourism Information places and pretending to be wary travelers. Hubby would engage the staff while I went to the washroom and nosed around. We would go back to the van and go over the supplied check lists together. 7 days, 10,000+Km(I drove every single one of those Km's), made $3,800. They paid for motels, we stayed in the van in community campgrounds... They paid for restaurant food, we shopped at Walmart.... They paid for fuel + 35cents/Km.

We once traveled for six weeks all over B.C. in a 1984 Honda Civic hatchback, tented the whole time, not one single night in a motel/hotel. All over the mainland, Up island and back home. 12,000+Km's with a blown strut and a transmission with NO oil in it as the previous owner had installed the clutch backwards..... 4spd doing 140kph down the side of mountains, howling the whole time, the shift linkage held together with zip ties and shoe laces...

The wandering isn't going to stop anytime soon either. He is retiring in a year and a half. We are selling the house and buying probably a full size GMC diesel van, converting it to dually and buying a luxury 4 season tow behind travel trailer and an enclosed utility trailer big enough to fit a full size car and hitting the road for a few years till we decide on an acreage. We will most likely end up doing cross country shipping/delivery like that shipping wars show on tv to supplement our income.

Traveling by driving is a huge stim for me. So much visual and tactile stimuli. I stim while driving... heheh, stimming while stimming! Swinging my leg back and forth, drumming on the steering wheel.... The only time my hubby says anything about it is when I get swinging my leg I setup a harmonic that gets the whole van rocking, while buzzing down the road at 120kph while 3-4 car lengths off the bumper of a semi.... he says it makes him nauseous, and the drumming on the steering wheel... he worries I'll inadvertently trigger the airbag....

I think I like wandering so much because I get to experience new things all the time. I love learning, be it through internet, books or life experience. I don't hit tourist traps when I go awanderin, We go to museums and historical points of interest. Now with being able to tote reliable internet with me where ever I go, I'm all set for traveling till my butt falls off. I don't use the internet for emails, IM's etc, I use it to research locations and things I might like to see and experience, or if I see something that pings me the right way I'll read everything I can about it online. One the last trip I totally forgot to email/IM my one and only best friend, for ten days! Poor guy... Sorry my Nilla!

This is turning into another book, sorry....

Long story short, I live for epic travels, not so much the social crap but all the rest of the stuff, good or bad, that makes the trip epic.

Have internet, Will travel!

I don't recall "escaping" as a kid. In fact, my parents trusted my brothers and I enough that we could walk down to the school to play or they would give us some money to go to the dairy and buy an ice cream on our own. It was a safe community and we knew our way around. I had a non-ASD brother, however, who did have a habit of escaping and had at least one police car ride.

I was also a wanderer and loved to hide in the clothing racks when my mom was shopping. Later, my parents realized that it was safe for my brother and I to walk to the park about a mile away to use the pool in the summer, since we learned to swim there. We also walked to and from school from elementary to high school, when my mom took us as it was on her way to work. We did walk home unless I had band practice, then someone would pick me up after that ended.

My mom did have friends who were helicopter parents who were freaked out that she "let" us do things by ourselves, including going to the movie theater. Those people grew up and had a hard time adjusting to adult life and becoming independent because they were so sheltered, and never allowed to experience things on their own. Those people will probably never marry because not only would their mom get a full background check on anyone who even looked at their special snowflake, but they would be the MIL from hell as they would continue to interfere in their child's marriage.

I wandered a lot as a kid.

- I got lost once in Disney world at night while simultaneously loosing my glasses. I was old enough to know better too. (age 10).
- Also, I once got lost in downtown New Orleans on Mardi Gras day (age 8 )
- I also wandered away from home and lost myself in my own neighborhood once at age 7. I was gone for 5 hours before anyone noticed.

I didn't get into any real trouble those times though, I just got really anxious.

I never wandered off far. I was afraid to get lost, or be blocked by scary older boys.
I loved exploring if I could get someone to go with me, but on my own I never went far away.

I didn't like to be around groups (like in day care) so I would often go to the outskirts of the perimeter, sometimes beyond, just out of sight so I could be left alone. I did the same in school, too; I "hid" behind one of two buildings so I could be by myself.
I knew it wasn't allowed but i didn't care. I wasn't running off, I just needed some time to myself.