how do you stop a toddler from running off

[SmallWorld71]

You've gotten lots of great responses so far. I figured I would just add my 2 cents in. Although I don't have any special needs children, DD4 is a very intense child. She went through a stage where she thought it would be funny to run away too and see if I followed. Very scary. No real advice on this one except to say that I totally sympathize with you and think that with enough time he will eventually out grow it. Hopefully you will wear him out enough at Disney and he'll spend a lot of time in a stroller.

As far as time-outs, the conventional time out has never worked with DD. (She would become absolutely hysterical to the point of making herself sick and it was a nightmare.) I was so frustrated that I took a parenting seminar for help and learned something that I had never considered. Time-out doesn't have to be alone. It is simply providing the child a way to take a break from whatever the problem is. I was told that when she did something that warranted at time out, such as hitting her brother, to just tell her she needed a time out, set the timer (1 min. per year of her age), hold her securely in my lap for the duration of the time out and not talk to her. It worked much better! She fought me the 1st couple times, but that stopped when she realized I wasn't letting her go until the timer went off. Perhaps something like this would work for your son. He would get his time-out and still be safe.

Edited to add: I just re-read your post and realized you had a problem with tantrums, not time-outs. Ugh! Sorry! I still think your best bet is to hold him close until it passes.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

SmallWorld71 - you basically backed up wahtI said. I think this is a great approach to tantrums! especially if the motivation is fear.

Best of luck tothe op - and again I say, you may well be surprised at how well he does. Lots of pixie dust to you!

 

[1stluvispooh]

We seem to be walking in each others shoes. That was my DD who ASD 4 as well. I used a leash. (Yeah I know everyone has already said it) When I didn't have one with me or I was going into the grocery store with her I would purposely park next to the cart coral so that I would get my cart and strap her in straight from her car seat. This way I didn't have to worry about her bolting from the car to the door. As for the tantrums. I must say that the best thing we did for those was put her on a gluten/casein free diet. I know it sound wired that a diet would help with the tantrums but it help with her period. She was calmer. I remember the first day I put her on it. DH came home form work and cornered me in the kitchen after he had been home for 30 minutes and said "is it just me or does she seem calmer?" I know that he has food issues already and that that will make it even more difficult. Our thoughts behind it was it couldn't hurt and was worth a try. I hope you find what works best for you.

 

[sl_underwood]

Can you steer me in the right direction for info on this diet? He does have food issues but I am willing to research it and see if I could make it work.

 

[onetoescape]

Interesting discussion going on. I will be going Disney soonish (Jan 09 touch wood). My youngest 3 has been ruled out ASD for the meantime however he has problems still being investigated.He does not speak about from 10 words or so. He has no understanding on what you say to him and he just rampages about and when he doesn't get it what he wants he has a crying match. On the flip side he is the most loving of our children. Can those 'monkeys' be picked up easily in Florida? I will be flying in from the UK

 

[Christine43]

You've gotten good advice here and there's nothing I can add but I just wanted to say big kudos to you for taking this child in. We need more people like you, congratulations!

 

[DorkyDisneyMom]

Can you steer me in the right direction for info on this diet? He does have food issues but I am willing to research it and see if I could make it work.

I have a PDD/NOS boy 5 who is doing the gluten and casien free diet too.

I use a wesite called GFCFdiet.com. It is a little hard to use but, if you go to the directory down at the bottom of the page it will give you an Alphabetical listing of the site. It has all kinds of grocery listings that are GF CF. You can google gf/cf diet and you will find a whole bunch of stuff.

I also use a website called TACAnow.org It has a great explaination as to why the diet. I have a book too.

I can see a difference in the boys when we are doing the diet.

We have used a leash too. We were at Disneyland in Nov. I found it much easier just to use the stroller. The boys were much better with it. I have developed a short command for the boys. I just say, "partner". They know that means they need to hold someone's hand. So when you are working with your little guy and you want to hold his hand just say, "partner". It is short and sweet and helps them understand what you want.

I looked at getting DS5 an i.d. and I really liked the shoe one. I think it is called Who's shoe or something like that. DS5 didn't need one, he memorized our cell phone numbers. And we trained him to find a mom with a stroller and ask for help. That won't work for you but, I did like the shoe one too.

I also wanted to mention YouTube. We used it for the rides and loved it. I think it would be great for your little guy to have a lot of exposure. It really helps with anxiety and helps them know what to expect. I was also thankful because then I could gauge their reactions to see if I thought a ride was going too much.

I just wanted to add about the websites. I like them for diet information. Some of the stuff on there is stuff that I am not sure I agree with. But I do like them for the diet.