Reins/Harness for older child

[Joelle1736]

Hi
I have 3 kids DD X and X and DS X. DS X has dyspraxia. He's a genuinely lovely boy kind, caring, doing well in school etc but recentlyseems to have a real issue staying with us when he’s out with us.
We have explained a number of times how important it is that he stays close to us when we are out and i feel like he genuinely understands this. We always try to hold his hand when out but he seems to slip away whenever he sees something he's interested in or wants to look at. Its not that he always runs away, though he does sometimes when he’s particularly excited by something, more often than not he will just wander away and its almost impossible to realise before he can be out of sight. Most of the time he doesn’t even realise himself that hes left us and can get really upset and panicked by the thought of being left. In the past few months we have lost him for moments in shopping centres, the zoo etc and its becoming a real worry for us. Its particularly dangerous around roads because he cannot cross roads safely at all without adult supervision so we really need a solution. We have tried giving him tasks to focus on and rewards for sticking with us but nothing seems to have worked.
We now think that he needs reins and a harness for the time being. I know he is quite old for them but i think its the only solution that will work I don’t know if anyone has any experience using reins with dyspraxic kids but would be really interested to hear your experiences.

Thanks in advance

Oops forgot to add their ages the keyboard was playing up. DDs are 6 and 9 and DS is 7 but 8 in october

We used to use a kids ski harness (search on amazon) for ds who has autism when he became too large for standard reins. As he got older he was able to use pecs cards (now, next etc) and became less impulsive so the need for the reins became less.

DH and I cant decide on which type would be best. DH reckons the wrist strap type would be more discreet and maybe less embarrassing for our son, but I’ve heard horror stories about disclocating elbows and shoulders using them. I also think he would just take wrist strap off, so im thinking the chest reins would be more suitable. Don’t want to embarrass DS 7 but would much rather be safe the than sorry!

DS has a backpack which we use in a similar way to the little life reins. It's got a loop at the top that we can attach a strap too (as it happens, the old wrist strap which he used to slip out of). While he can undo the chest clip and waist belt he fortunately doesn't tend to, so it's just enough to stop the bag slipping off his shoulders if he bolts.

He's usually pretty good at staying with us, just those odd occasions when he's spooked by a nearby dog/motorbike/siren and tends to bolt without thinking. I'm not sure it would be enough for a more determined runner.

We use this one, www.gooutdoors.co.uk/freddom-trail-spirit-25-daypack-p362379

Thanks gigglinghyena for the reply,
Really interesting solution- we agree however that DS would probably just undo the straps so we are going to order a chest harness and reins if we can find one to fit him.

Me and DH would really appreciate hearing from anybody else who’s used reins with older children. Or any tips in general for handling dyspraxic kids when out and about

Recently he seems to have got a lot more difficult to manage generally and we are just really feeling out of our depth.
Thanks in advance