Wander Lust
Years before we ever considered autism as a diagnosis for our daughter we were greatly disturbed by her tendency to “wander off”. Actually it was more like she’d just vanish, one second she was right beside you, the next – gone.
This all have started about the age of 2. As soon as she could walk she refused to go into the push chair and so she’d be on foot whenever we went out. Large department stores were her favorites for doing a disappearing act. You’d only have to look away from her for a second and she’d be gone. The next few minutes would be spent in panic trying to find her, never sure if she been snatched or was just around the next rack of dresses.
Nothing we could say to her would stop her from wandering.
When she was about 3 we were all outside the house doing a bit to the garden – next second she was gone. Fortunately we were half a mile from the nearest road; but the terrain was wild and mountainous. After a few minutes frantic tearing over the land we found her down our track; I’ll never forget the sensations of fear as every possible scenario went through my mind.
So we moved to a more cultivated part of West Cork. The day after moved in she vanished again, this time we were living on a road! I went one way, the wife the other. She was in the field next to the house chasing the cows up and down. Fortunately the farmer had passed the field minutes before and stopped to find out why the cows were charging about. He rescued her from likely being trampled.
Next day she did it again. This time we knew where to look.
Day 3 she tried again; but this time got stuck on the fence and fortunately that put her off her cowgirl wanderings.
Where’s all this reminiscing leading? A survey has been conducted in the US and preliminary results indicate that this is a common phenomena amongst children on the spectrum and that age 4 is where this behavior peaks. This certainly fits with our experience. The preliminary results of the survey have been published on the Interactive Autism Network Community website and are well worth a read. The survey also looks at the reasons children might wander and also the effects this has on the parents. If we’d known this was a symptom of autism back then we might have got our diagnosis many years earlier than we did.
Our little ‘un is fast approaching her teenage years. She still wanders; but now we can be pretty sure she’ll be in the DVD or video game section of the shop so we know where to look.
What are your wander lust stories? How have you coped with this frightening aspect of autism? Please leave us a comment.