Treatment of Elopement Without Blocking With a Child With Autism.

One six-year-old boy with autism kept running out of the therapy room. The team wanted to stop the elopement without ever blocking him.

They used a changing-criterion design. Each day they set a new, slightly longer time that the boy had to stay within one adult arm’s length. If he stayed that long he got tokens and praise. If he stepped past the invisible line the timer reset. No one ever grabbed or blocked him.

Elopement dropped to zero by the third phase. The boy learned to stay close for up to five minutes at a time. Gains lasted two months with no blocking needed.

Jarrold et al. (1994) did something similar for adults who hurt themselves while tied to chairs. They also faded restraints while reinforcing safer acts, showing the no-blocking idea is old but still works.

Borgen et al. (2017) extend the same logic to compliance. They stacked easy instructions before hard ones and poured on praise, proving the gradual-criterion trick works for more than running away.

Jeffries et al. (2016) adds confidence: they increased eye contact in kids with autism using only differential reinforcement, no blocking, matching the clean approach here.

You can cut elopement without ever touching the child. Set a clear space rule, start with a tiny stay-close time, and reinforce every success. Then stretch the time a little each day. Keep the rule in kid-friendly words: “Stay where I can high-five you.” No blocks, no chasing, just reinforcement and a timer.