Longitudinal Examination of Wandering in Children and Adolescents With Autism.
Lisa D Wiggins, Carolyn DiGuiseppi, Katherine Overwyk and 6 others
Half of young children with autism wandered between ages 2 and 5; by adolescence that fell to 14%.
Childhood attention and aggression problems were the only early factor linked to wandering at both ages. 22.2% of adolescents who wandered did not use words.
Key findings
1Among 258 children with autism, 50% (129) wandered between ages 2 and 5 and 14% (36) wandered between ages 12 and 16.
2Childhood externalizing behavior problems (attention and aggression) were the only early factor significantly associated with wandering at both time points: for each one-point rise in the CBCL externalizing t-score, the likelihood of wandering rose by 4% in early childhood and 5% in adolescence. No other measured characteristic (autistic trait severity, learning ability, adaptive skills, internalizing problems) was associated with wandering.
3Among the 36 adolescents who wandered, public places (store, restaurant, playground, campsite) were the most common location; 22.2% did not communicate with words, 41.7% used words with trouble. The most recently added prevention measures were locks or alarms, followed by other barriers, a phone app, fences or gates, and tracking devices.
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The two time points used different questions: the early-childhood item captured any wandering, while the adolescent item required the child to have become lost and needed a search. The apparent drop from 50% to 14% may partly reflect this measurement difference rather than true developmental change. The early-childhood wandering measure was a single, unvalidated checklist item used as a proxy because no standardized measure exists for that age. Only 36 adolescents wandered, so estimates for that group are imprecise. The sample was primarily non-Hispanic White and college-educated, which limits generalizability. The prevention-measures question did not cover all possible strategies, and families may have implemented some measures before the 12-month window the question asked about.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. No funding source is named in the text provided.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the drop from 50% to 14% as proof that wandering reliably resolves with age — the two time points used different questions (any wandering versus becoming lost and needing a search), so part of the difference is measurement, not development. Also, the link between attention and aggression problems and wandering is an association measured at the same time, not evidence that treating those behaviors will stop a child from wandering.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →