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Verdandi
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14 Feb 2011, 5:50 pm

I noticed in this essay: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_i ... 3145970957

Quote:
Wandering

97% of individuals with autism wander. Wandering can be very dangerous. Many people with autism are drawn to water sources, have a love for water, and will go right into a lake or river. They don’t have the sense of danger to tell them that this can be dangerous. Not so shocking, the number one cause of death among individuals who do wander is drowning. Being drawn to things like train track or small places is also common and can be deadly as well. When you have an autistic child that wanders, you need to be vigilant 100 percent of the time. Many families live in "the house of locks," locking both inside and outside the house in a desperate attempt to keep their loved one inside and safe. When your child is a wanderer, looking away for even a moment is dangerous. It only takes a moment for a child to slip away and when they do, you don't know if you will find them and if you do, if they will be alive, when you find them. These are only a few common safety concerns.


I didn't realize this was a thing? I know I wandered several times in my childhood. I remember being caught outside and across the street one morning. I remember one occasion when I disappeared for most of a day. I remember another time I went for a walk and ended up at a park nearly a mile away from home (and got in so much trouble). I had other similar occasions as well, but my memory is not cooperating fully.

In early adolescence and my teens I had a tendency to go just about anywhere I wanted, which was aided significantly by the process of memorizing bus routes and hindered by my tendency to go places I didn't have permission for and come home later than I was supposed to.

Is wandering that common? Does this sound like wandering?



anbuend
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14 Feb 2011, 5:55 pm

I don't know how common but I did it all the time.


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simon_says
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14 Feb 2011, 6:02 pm

I remember my grandmother used to tie me to her when she was doing stuff in the yard and I was visiting. It was kind of joke in the family that I would wander off and she was tired of it. That probably happens with other kids though.

Mountain streams are certainly very hypnotic to me and have been since I first noticed one, around age 12. On the other hand, I have a lot of experience on the ocean but I have no particular love for it.. Possibly because I'm not a fan of dark water. So I'm strongly drawn to some waters, and am slightly repelled by others.



Verdandi
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14 Feb 2011, 6:10 pm

I love water, actually. And especially the ocean, at least until this one time in Florida I noticed there were fish swimming right beside me. I have a weird horror of sea life.

It can be pretty mesmerizing.

I never lived near a body of water until I was in my early 20s - I could walk to work on the beach. Quite excellent.



wblastyn
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14 Feb 2011, 6:24 pm

I went wandering during my depressive episodes.



CockneyRebel
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14 Feb 2011, 6:32 pm

I never really did wander off. I always stayed close to the adults around me.


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14 Feb 2011, 6:48 pm

I still love a good wander, but I really don't think I am going to drown myself in a creek.


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buryuntime
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14 Feb 2011, 6:52 pm

I was about to say I didn't do this but the last time I went to the store with my mother she laughed about how much I kept wandering off.

Even if I do wander off I feel very anxious however because I can get lost easily and it's hard for me to spot the person I'm looking for / am with. Which makes me not very prone to wandering off.

My autistic sibling used to wander off. More like run off. We had to install locks because she'd run outside on a whim.



Verdandi
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14 Feb 2011, 6:58 pm

MidlifeAspie wrote:
I still love a good wander, but I really don't think I am going to drown myself in a creek.


I'm not sure how likely that is, or how much hyperbole 97% is, but I was kind of curious. :)



Yensid
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14 Feb 2011, 7:12 pm

I never wandered. I always stayed close to places that I knew.


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Uhura
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14 Feb 2011, 7:38 pm

I think I look like I am wandering at times when I'm not. By that I mean I have a destination in mind. I'm sure when shopping I look like I am wandering because I am not organized and no matter how hard I try to get everything in one isle, then the next, and so fourth, I always forget something and have to go back to that isle. But I'm sure it looks like wandering.

Or in a room with people in it I try to do all I need in one area, then another, and so fourth but I end up forgetting and going back and fourth. Yet cleaning at home I don't do this and am more organized.

But I'm sure it looks like wandering. One thing that really annoys me is at work I am walking to do something, for example go get something or throw something away, and someone comes in and it looks like I am wandering.

So I wonder if my Autistic students that wander have a destination but can't verbalize it.



alone
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14 Feb 2011, 7:39 pm

I wandered away as a toddler. Everyone watched out for me and just let me go. Most of the time I'd get fixated on something and hang out in someone's yard for hours. My parents didn't see it as dangerous but instead as interesting. lol. Even in early school I wandered constantly, far away and lots of times spent most of the day gone and had to follow a drainage ditch to get home. I was worse on my bicycle, later on buses. I finally just ran away from home and then wandered aimlessly for years. I still do it now. I go out in my car and wander around. I am in a new city and drive around with nowhere to go just looking at nothing in particular. It is soothing to me until I get lost. I get lost for hours and have to get out my phone and check the compass app to get a sense of direction. I have never internalized I actually belong anywhere. I'll look at little buildings or triangles of trees along the road and think 'I could live there'. Sometimes it is the only thing that will slow my mind down.

sounds weird when I write it down

:oops:



Verdandi
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14 Feb 2011, 7:48 pm

Actually, that sounds pretty tempting to me. I don't get out nearly enough.



aghogday
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14 Feb 2011, 8:09 pm

When I was a toddler I was outside with my mother. She turned her head for just a few seconds and I darted across the yard into a road, which according to my mother was a considerable distance for a toddler. Fortunately a man stopped his car, picked me up, and brought me back to my mother.

Later I lived on river front property. My Grandmother told me if I got close to the water an alligator would bite my fingers off. I got a good visualization from this and from then on was cautious around animal mouths. I stayed a good distance away from the water.

Through my life I wandered throughout my area bicycling, walking the beach, jogging, etc. I was not one to stay home in those days. I guess I ways always looking for calm. I often found it.



theWanderer
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14 Feb 2011, 8:20 pm

Well, I think my username answers your question pretty clearly... :lol:

Not that I've ever tried to just walk into a lake or something, but I do like to wander. Physically and in my mind.


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14 Feb 2011, 9:15 pm

I 'kidnapped' my kid sister once and went for a wander with her.
She was in her pram in the back yard and I thought a nice day out would be fun so I started pushing the pram and off we went. I was around 4 years old and didn't bother telling my mother any of this. 8O
I'd got a few streets away and didn't have much idea where I was, but that was no bother because it was all a bit of an adventure. We didn't live on the ground floor then and I'd only really been out in the back yard or towed along on the hand of an adult, so this was all good stuff.
My mother eventually found us and I couldn't understand why she was so worried and angry, but she'd been searching for a good hour trying to find us and going out of her mind with worry.

Between 6 to 10 years old I'd often wander the streets or round the local park for the fun of it. I'd set of with the intention of going nowhere in particular and it was completely aimless, just strolling about. I think my parents were used to it and it only became an issue if I returned late.
Railways, lakes and rivers were definitely magnets but not to the extent that I wasn't aware they could be dangerous.

These days I sometimes get in the car and drive. I usually start off by heading towards a familiar place and then deliberately take a wrong turn just to see where it goes. No maps, no phone, no GPS.
Sometimes it's just nice to see completely new stuff and interesting though rivers are, I've never felt inclined to explore the centre of one without a boat.


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