Elopement.. and no, I'm not talking about running off and getting married. I'm talking about elopement as a stress-response that many of our students engage in. That 'fight or flight' response to a harmful event, threat or perceived need to survive. If you're a special education teacher, odds are you have seen this behavior and written a goal on it. Elopement is a very common behavior we see among students who have endured trauma or those whom their body is always in a state of survival. They engage a perceived threat and their body releases hormones that either makes them 'fight' the threat or take 'flight' away from it all in the name of survival. This blog post, we will be talking about the 'flight' aspect of behavior and how to proactively intervene.
When analyzing elopement behaviors, one thing to always determine is the function of this behavior. Why is the student engaging in elopement behaviors? When we fail to determine a function, our interventions we implement are less likely to be successful because they are not student-specific and functionally replaceable for the target behavior. If you don't know the function of the behavior, I would work closely with the child's team to determine the function. Reach out to your special education director or other personnel and see the process for completing an FBA (functional behavior assessment). Often times, many of us believe elopement behavior is essentially a form of escaping the environment. When we make this pre-conceived notion, we can inadvertently be reinforcing the behavior by not knowing or understanding the function of the behavior. Let's review the four functions of behavior and consider the following (remember, SEAT):
Sensory: Is this child too overstimulated by the environment? Is the child under stimulated by the environment? Is there a perceived sensory need being met when the child elopes from the environment? What observations can we make that give us more information about that?
Escape: What is this child attempting to escape from? Academic demands, transitions, uncomfortable situations, stress, social conflicts, peer interactions? What data can we utilize or take to support the notion this child is escaping the environment when a particular demand is placed or presented.
Attention: Who is this child wanting or craving attention from? Remember, attention-seeking behaviors are connection-seeking behaviors. What connection do they need to intervene and prevent elopement behaviors? Is our response to this elopement inadvertently reinforcing it? Are there particular people they need access to to be successful?
Tangibles: Is this child engaging in elopement to access some tangible? Remember, not only can this include tangibles, but also privileges or access to do things. When they elope are they going to a particular area that would reinforce tangibles as a function? After eloping, are they provided some privilege that they otherwise would not obtain if they had not eloped?
After conducting an FBA many of us still ask, so now what? When we know the function how can we respond and ensure safety of the student, decrease the behavior and provide an appropriate replacement behavior that meets the same need. When dealing with elopement, I like to break down the proactive-strategies and response to the behavior into 3 categories:
1.) Environmental supports
2.) Replacement skills/strategies
3.) De-escalation response
The first two categories, environmental supports and replacement skills/strategies, look at a more preventative way to control elopement behavior. This is where we look at the many components of providing an alternative replacement behavior that meets the exact same need or function as the elopement behavior. This is where 90% of your work needs to happen. We need to be preventative to elopement behavior as opposed to reactive. We need to have a designated reactive plan, however without a preventative plan in place to establish a new skills set the elopement-like behaviors will not decrease or will manifest themselves into other more diverse, intense behaviors.
Environmental Supports
Environmental supports are key when setting up an environment to be successful for a child. When we consider environmental supports we want to ask ourselves, what modifications to this environment can I make to ensure a safer place for everyone involved? Here are some strategies I utilize to modify my environment for students who elope:
-Proximity: Seat the child away from the door or as far away from the point of entry/exit as you can. I often like to place this child near my desk or work area so they feel wanted and I can keep a closer eye on them. Also, seating them near my work area allows me to intervene quicker in case the student is showing the beginning signs of elopement. This serves as a great opportunity for me to prompt replacement behaviors quicker.
-Boundaries: One thing that many of these students need are awareness of boundaries. A great way to give that is to provide students a visual around areas that may be their's or they are not allowed to engage with. I have put boundary boxes around student's desk to give them control over their desk area and create a 'safety spot' for them. I have also created a box boundary around my classroom door. Students are explicitly taught how to access beyond the boundary of the door with an appropriate replacement behavior (ex: raising hand, asking for a walk, grabbing a walk pass, etc.).
-Communicate: Many of our staff members in our building know which students are engaging in elopement. They have either witnessed the behaviors or are made aware of their behavior plans! So, let's include them in on that elopement plan. Let's set our staff up to successfully communicate and approach these students to aide in the de-escalation process. A safety plan distributed to staff can outline steps they need to take if they see the student has eloped in order to try and de-escalate the student or ensure safety. Many times, our students may elope through the same area or routes. Can those teachers in that area have access to the plan? What simple things can they do if they are making a copy and see the designated child walk by? What distraction methods can they use to stall the student until more highly trained staff has arrived?
-Furniture: Can we arrange classroom furniture in our favor to prevent students from leaving the classroom or allow us more time to de-escalate prior to them leaving the classroom? For example: I position my teacher table where I spend 80% of my day closer to the point of entry/exit. This allows me to intervene with a student in a quicker sense than if I was positioned away from the door or point of entry/exit. Also, many of our students de-escalate better and quicker in an environment they are more familiar with and have access to appropriate supports. I would much rather de-escalate a child in my classroom than in the gym they have eloped and gotten access to.
-Door Duty: Yep, I said it. Door duty. Being on alert for an elopement behavior is physically and mentally exhausting especially if you are trying to teach or coordinate other things in your classroom. Make a schedule with your staff! Have particular staff members on door duty to oversee the entry/exit area and intervene as necessary. Create a schedule and switch every hour. If you are on door duty, ensure you are staying in the vicinity of the area. Have visuals or de-escalation fidgets/supports ready in case an incident arises. Attempt to create the most success for that staff member who is on door duty!
-Visuals: If you know me, are you even surprised I mentioned this? Why not put a red stop sign on your classroom point of entry/exit? The stop sign could also be prompted with coping skills or other strategies the students could be using instead of eloping. For some students, the stop sign can be a visual reminder of better choices they can be making, for others it may entice them seeing the visual to engage in elopement, so utilize this strategy with caution! For some elopement behaviors, out of sight, out of mind mentality may be best.
-Sensory: Ensure your classroom environment is not over/under stimulating for the child. An environment that is not conducive to students who may have significant trauma in their lives can trigger students to want to leave the environment to regain a regulatory state. Is it too bright? Too loud or too quiet? Is there a repetitive, triggering noise present such as a light flickering? Do students have access to self-advocacy tools in case things become overwhelming such as headphones or weighted blankets? Is there an area in your classroom where students can get access to sensory supports or their sensory needs met, independently?
This is a view of my classroom looking in from the doorway or point of entry/exit. I spend the majority of my time positioned at the u-shaped table you see to the left. This allows me quicker access to the doorway in case a student elopes.
Replacement Skills
The other critical and necessary aspect to decrease elopement alongside environmental supports is building and incorporating replacement skills for the student. We always have to remember, the key to decreasing one behavior is to increase another behavior. For many students, we need to increase one or more replacement skills to find an acceptable balance of replacement. Whichever the case, replacement skills are necessary to disengage the pattern of elopement and engage more appropriate, positive behaviors that meet their needs in the exact same way. Here are some replacement skills you can implement with students who elope:
-Access to leave: Have you ever wanted something so bad and as soon as you got it or received access to it, you really weren't that interested in it? Well, this is the same concept. Sometimes when we just give the student access to leave a certain environment, we are less likely to see it as a problem behavior and the behavior decreases with time. Now, with access to leave comes responsibility and teaching this student how to access this other environment in a more appropriate way. If we have a student who elopes to the point of outside the building, campus area or demonstrates a safety issue than this may not be the most beneficial tool for them. However, if we feel a student really needs access to leave the environment to attempt to decrease the elopement maybe an adult or peer accompanies them? Maybe when they leave staff alerts another staff member to ensure they can see the student walk around the building. Maybe you allow the student access to leave to go to a designated area that someone could alert you they made it there. There are a lot of ways to frame this for a student to ensure safety of everyone involved.
-Visually supported walks: I have had students in the past 'elope' in the sense they just would either get lost or become distracted on their walk and struggle returning to class. For those students, I created visually supported walks. Students knew there were 4 checkpoints to go around the school. The checkpoints were positioned in a way that students were utilizing a clear path to and from the classroom. As students approached a checkpoint, they would pull the velcro check off the wall. Once they collected all four checks, they knew they were almost back to class. This worked great for students who just needed to get out, but really struggled with the concept of time when leaving the classroom. Also, many of the students found this fun and engaging to go and collect all of the checks!
-Break lanyard: In my classroom hanging on the back of the door, I have a lanyard that says 'break pass'. Anytime a student needs some time out of the classroom to take a walk they can grab the break lanyard and show it to me. I then know they are taking a walk around the building. The break lanyard has visually supported rule reminders. This also alerts other staff members if they see a student prone to elopement, that they are appropriately accessing being outside of the classroom!
-Safe Place: Ultimately, there will be times when a student leaves the classroom or misuses a break pass or lanyard time. We are all human and we all make mistakes. With each of my students, I have them develop a 'safe place' in the school they know they can go to if they are dysregulated or a place I know I can find them if they have eloped. In this area, I often put their favorite sensory tools, stress-relievers, visuals or comfort items. One of the key parts to ensuring a safe place system works is to positively praise students for utilizing the safe place. Just as we retreat to safe spots when we are stressed as adults, we need to allow our students to do the same.
-Practice: Many of our students just need a little extra support and practice with things. Can students take a few walks a day with an accompanied staff member? Can this student just begin by walking a few feet out of the classroom and back? Can we gradually increase the distance building on positive behavioral momentum and showing the student they can be successful outside of the classroom. Practice makes perfect.
-Social story: You all know i'm 100% a fan of social stories when they are used proactively. I encourage you to map out an elopement plan for your student via a social story. Add into the social story their preferred replacement behaviors and how they can get access to those replacement behaviors. I read through social stories at the beginning of everyday with students and we often even talk through specific scenarios that may have happened to debrief and role-play. Social stories should be positive, encouraging and showcase appropriate behaviors the student should be engaging in.
Here is an example of an elopement social story I made for a student that involved cueing them with a replacement behavior, for this example it was having them utilize a break card and timer. This social story can be purchased in my growing bundle of social stories product in my TPT store:
I also have an elopement think sheet that students could utilize to debrief an elopement behavior, especially if they need a visually-supported way to communicate after a crisis situation. It's available to purchase here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Elopement-Think-Sheet-4412886
-Exercise: Many times our students who elope are showing us they need a little bit more movement in their day. I have done lots of things for students who needed extra movement from taking them to the gym to run laps, allowing them to do sprints up and down the hall, extra time on the playground equipment, high intensity activities in the sensory room or exercise routines. When their bodies are proactively engaging in sensory-supported exercises they will less likely seek out elopement as a way to access that sensory support.
-Notice & cue: Often times many of our students who elope have some other behaviors they exhibit before elopement. Many of them may pace around the room, engage in more fidgeting, look at the point of entry/exit, withdraw from the classroom activity, etc. Sometimes, our students are very unaware of these behaviors that can elude to them eventually eloping. If you see a student doing that, notice and cue them. This can sound like, 'Hey, I noticed you haven't been participating in the math game. Would you like to use a break card to go to the sensory room?' This is a great way to build in more self-regulation and make the student aware of how their body feels before they may elope.
-Incentivize: How can we incentivize and promote positive replacement behaviors? Many times, I build in incentives for utilizing replacement skills in place of elopement. Let's be honest, we are all working for things in life so let's allow our students to as well. Many times I like to work incentive plans into a social story and pair this with reading it every day. One key thing to remember is that we need to be providing an incentive when there is an increase in a replacement behavior as opposed to a decrease in the elopement. I like to reward students for utilizing their coping skills as opposed to not eloping from the classroom. Always focus on the positives!
Pictured above to the left is the boundary tape around the student's desk. Many times students will put bean bags or other adaptive seating choices in their boundary area as well. Picture to the right is the break lanyard and break card placed on the back of my door. A child can give me the break card and access the lanyard to walk around the school! Here are the links for the break card and lanyard in my TPT store:
De-escalation Response
Ultimately there will come a time when a student will elope. We can do all the positive, proactive supports in the world, but we aren't perfect and we can't expect our students to be as well. Modifying and shaping behavior is honestly really hard. Behavior is human nature and is the only way our body knows to survive. So inevitably when elopement happens, how do we respond? What actions can de-escalate the situation quicker and cue replacement behaviors? How can we get students back to a safe environment?
Many of these questions really depend on the function of the behavior. As you read through these de-escalation responses to a student who has eloped, keep in mind the function of that particular student's behavior and whether or not it aligns with reinforcing positive replacement behaviors that meet their same function. Here are some common strategies I use engaging a student who has eloped:
-Notice and Validate: Often times when encountering a student who has eloped I ensure to notice their behaviors and give them time to validate. For example, 'hey, I noticed you didn't go to your safe place today. Something must have really upset you. What is up?' This approach removes itself from being a 'blame' based approach to the behavior and allows the student the time to validate how their feeling and what led to the behavior.
-Support: Increasing adult support during a time of elopement can either be helpful or harmful to the student. Many times more adults can continue to trigger the student, however more adults are needed if the student has left the building or campus area. One thing I always consider is that when a child has eloped they are ultimately in crisis. More adults around can increase the crisis situation. When approaching a student, one person should lead the de-escalation process and others should be there as supports allowing the person to lead and direct them as to what they need to do. Analyze the situation and student and decide what support is necessary to ensure safety for all involved.
-Negotiate: Ultimately every time a student elopes they eventually want to negotiate and gain access or escape things when they return to the classroom. And honestly, we are kind of in a pinch in that situation and may have to cave into the negotiation under the idea of safety. For example: 'I'll only go back to the classroom if I don't have to do the math sheet'. A lot of the student's negotiation can signal to us the function of their behavior as well as what additional environmental supports or accommodations we need to put in place to make this student less likely to elope in the future and more likely to engage in a replacement behavior. I would envision for this student we would need to accommodate the math sheet, provide teacher support while working on the sheet, give them access to a 'help card' to gain help or shorten the number of problems they are to complete. I think when students are in crisis and they tell us what they need to de-escalate and cope, to a certain degree we need to honor that request.
-Block and Guide: As a student has eloped, alert other staff members via radio or text/call you need assistance blocking and guiding the student back to their designated area. Position staff to assist you in blocking areas students can access that makes it harder for them to get back to a safe place.
-Cue and Replace: Even if a child has eloped, it's not too late to offer a replacement behavior! After you have noticed and validated, this would be a great time to cue a replacement behavior they may want to engage in. 'Hey, thanks so much for telling me what is wrong. That sounds super frustrating. Want to go to the sensory room to finish talking about this?' Especially if a student is still learning replacement behaviors, anytime we can cue and practice them we should.
-Utilize Staff: This is a great example of why we need to be super mindful of the function of this child's behavior. If a child has utilized elopement to gain attention from a particular staff member, then we need to be mindful of who is attending to the student in crisis once they have eloped. A student who is attention seeking, may be reinforced to have a preferred staff member there. Or, if this child is not attention seeking they may need a particular staff member there to help them regulate and engage back in a safe environment.
-Time: Sometimes we all just need a little time. Think of a time you are dysregulated or upset about something. They last thing you want is someone rushing your process of regulating your body. Many of our students may need a timer set or just allowed a quiet space to calm their bodies. Many times we feel that if we are not verbally engaging with a student in behavior, we are not doing anything. For some situations, the student just might need time where staff is not engaging with them and they are intrusive in their thoughts. Set a timer for the student and yourself. 'Hey, I notice it seems like you just need some time to yourself. I'm going to set a timer for 3 minutes and no one will talk to you. I'll check in after that to see what you need.' This allows the staff time to think of a next step and the student time to decompress.
-Firm & supportive: This is exactly as it reads. We need to be firm and supportive if a safety issue is involved. When students are in crisis, I like to use the least amount of words as possible. I like to give them a directive and support them in that directive. For example, 'I need you to head to your safe spot, and then we can talk when you get there'. Students who engage back with staff may need a reminder of the firm and supportive directive you have given them. Students in crisis aren't thinking logically. We have to engage are directives to ensure more success with a student who is in crisis.
Each and every student who engages in elopement is different and responds differently to the interventions based on their function. After establishing the function, spending 90% of your time engaging in appropriate environmental supports and replacement skills can ensure your student successfully decreases elopement and engages in more positive replacement skills to get access to their needs.