Wandering

[Guest guest]

I read an article about children with Down Syndrome wandering off. It

does seem to be another one of those things that our kids seem to do

more than others. You can read about it at

www.disabilitysolutions.org. They put out out a quarterly newsletter

and I think the article was in Volume 4, Issue 3. It's really

interesting to me since Jake is such a wanderer. You can't take your

eyes off him for a second or he's gone like a flash. Hope the atricle

is helpful to you or at least sheds a little light on the subject.

Coleen

[Guest guest]

Our DD used to wander…The house alarm now tells us which door

has been opened so we can catch her before she goes anywhere…She is also

wearing a Project Lifesaver bracelet so our local Sheriff’s Office helicopter

can locate her within 15 minutes of a call…

FWIW – never assume because your child is “recovered” that they

will not wander. We did, and learned the hard way that our “recovered” dd now

had motivation beyond the wandering itself, she wanted to find friends to play

with!!! We put into place a behavioral plan to teach her the “rules” with

leaving the house; but I feel better knowing we have back-up!

Liz P

From:

EOHarm [mailto:EOHarm ] On Behalf Of SIMON

POWER

Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 9:46 PM

To: EOHarm

Subject: Wandering

On the subject of wandering or in our case

" running " I have a couple of tips and an experience to share which

may be useful. Rian (6) runs given any opportunity. Once a visitor opened a

dining room window in the summer and 5 minutes later we found that he was

gone - jumped out .... playing in the neighbors little water

fountain. On that note we intend to put a little water thing in

our yard specifically because it would be the first place he would go if ever

he get out again.

Shortly after this we went through a terrifying episode

where we couldnt find him on one Sunday afternoon. We called the

emergency services and our neighbors were all out looking. The emergency

services in Raleigh were unbelievably fantastic. Arriving within 5

minutes a patrolman searched the house while other resources made their way

to our house. Fire services began searching locally and a helicopter

was on the pad waiting to be invoked. 3 other patrolmen continued to search

every nook and cranny in the house while more and more support arrived. After

30 minutes my 14 year old daughter found him, safe in the house under a

laundry pile of blankets - fast asleep.

I was so embarrassed that we had caused such a fuss and

began to apologise to the police. Their response stays with me to this

day. First the officer in charge told me not to feel guilty - the first thing

they do is check the house and 3 of them couldnt see him either! The second

thing he said was " Dont let this change how you think about this

situation - check the house - if you cant see him call us immediately. Then

KEEP searching especially inside as we are on our way. DONT WAIT

to call us. " and then in an aside he said " honestly we spend most

of our time on traffic and little stuff - this is what we are trained to do

and a case like with a great result makes us feel like we make a

difference "

On their advice we enrolled Rian in " Project

lifesaver " http://www.projectlifesaverfoundation.org/index2.cfm which

if, heaven forbid, it happens again, a properly equipped patrol car can find

him within 5 minutes.

The other thing we did was to install a CPI alarm system

that sounds when any external door is opened. This didnt cost us any

more than a normal system ($30 a month) but now we can hear anytime one

of the other kids opens a door and already its part of our routine.

Hope that helps

Kind regds

SP