Published on 12, July, 2020
My 7 year old autistic Daughter sometimes does this thing where you walk towards her and she runs so your left chasing her round a shop or wherever it is.
Does anyone else child do this?
Have you found a way to stop them doing it?
Thanks in advance.
Hi,
My 8 year old son also does this, quite frequently. It can start off in good humour and quickly escalate to more impulsive behaviour (refusing to stop running in circles). I had a horrendous time when he did this at an airport and wouldn't stop despite them calling us to the gate. In the end, I just had to grab him and practically drag him to the gate, which wasn't my finest hour as everyone was staring, he was struggling & screaming and I was crying!
Apologies, this probably isn't much help but I just wanted you to know that this does happen and I appreciate how difficult it is. In situations where he isn't putting himself at risk, I usually sit/stand close by and ask him to stop. I will then start walking away and see if he follows. Distraction tends to work and he loves my phone, so might get a game/picture up that he likes.
It is a very difficult situation, especially if there are lots of people around/staring, but being calm and trying to distract are best solutions in my case.
My daughter does it when she is not happy with something or is having a meltdown. She only does it when I walk towards her, is your son the same?? My daughter doesn't run in circles but runs so I have to chase her otherwise I would lose her!
My daughter also occasionally runs in circles to play with me or her 6 year brother and this usually ends in impulsive behaviour like your son.
I've had people crowd round and once a man even said "in my day she would have got a good whacking", that pissed me off tbh.