How do you manage with a bolting child?

[elliejjtiny]

My youngest is nearly 3. Probably has autism but at the moment his official diagnosis is speech delay. He runs like the wind and climbs everything. I can just about manage him in certain places. There is a small soft play near us with a locked gate at the entrance and a toddler group where there are staff on the front desk and a heavy door which he can't open. I've got a nearly 4 year old who has sn too so I get nervous taking them places that he can escape from. I've got 3 older ones at school too.

We were doing OK with that and getting out most days even though it's mainly the same places. But recently I've had judgy comments from a couple of professionals about how it's not enough and I need to do more with him to help his speech. I read to him, he watches TV but not every day. I try and make sure he has time in the garden but we have a big hole in the fence and a broken gate that the landlord has been promising to fix for months.

I think I'm doing my best with him but I feel guilty that I don't take him to the park and to different toddler groups every day like I did with my older ones. And the judgy comments don't help.

I know you shouldn't have to but can't you just fix the gate and the hole yourself if the landlord is taking his time and it benifits your children.

My sons 3 with a dx, he's also a Bolter and a climber, I use the buggy if needed still and honestly I'm just always on alert, if he runs I run! And my 5 year old daughter just runs with us laughing as she thinks it's hilarious, when I go shopping I put him in the actually trolley and spend an extra £5 feeding him to keep him still

My son has little understanding but does understand the word no, so if he ran to the gate at the park I would shout his name and no and he sometimes stops (getting better at this).

Thank you both. I think he is meant to meet a load of nt toddlers at the park who will teach him to talk. We go to a sensory group that is supposed to be aimed at children with sn but nt children can go there too, although at the moment he is the only child with sn who goes there I think. Good to know it's OK to want to avoid nt toddlers, I thought it was just me being silly.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get the garden gate/fence fixed I think. If I can take him out in the garden knowing he is safe then that will help. I'm glad it gets easier, I was worried it would get harder as he gets bigger and faster.

Iv take my son to the park/legoland/chessington/animal farm places loads and it's not teaching him to talk and I don't think that would to be honest, I would ignore the professionals that say that, I'm sure there's some Benefits to our kids being around nt children but I don't think teaching them to talk is one of them, my son also attends a nt pre school 3 days a week so he's around loads of children, I would say it's helped him to tolate other children being next to him more and waiting his turn

It's a long haul but I'd consider getting an assistance dog - from a reputable place.

There're a few books that give you tips on how to help your toddler to speak - our 2.5 year old is a bit behind in his speech so we've been getting tips from those. I can't link right now because I'm on my phone, but I'll try later. We've also been using flash cards and match cards (like playing snap) - I'm sorry if these are really obvious and you've tried them already, were quite new to this as we've only recently had a dx.

We also use reins on DS. He doesn't love them but it means he can't bolt under a car when we're out. We've also found, for eg walks to the park, that he's a lot easier to control when he's on his tricycle. It's like, when he's on foot, he can go in any direction without any warning but on the trike he can only go forwards and when he changes direction, you get a bit more notice because you can see him steering the handles. And he can't easily go backwards without doing a full u-turn!

mine bolts too and im.near the end of my tether with it