Runner

(St. Cloud, FL)

My grandson is a "runner." He has a lot of sensory problems and speech is very difficult for him. He was born 26 weeks into the pregnancy and has Down's syndrome. Amazingly, he is progressing well. He is now 9 years old and is on medication for ADHD which really settles him down and makes him able to focus and learn.

One behavior he has that I consider very dangerous is that you never know when he may decide to run away from you. He loves to be chased; however, we don't play chase with him since he has the running problem. When I want him to get dressed to go somewhere, he runs away so he can be chased. Sometimes when we go to the car, he refuses to get in as he wants chased around the car. There have been times in the supermarket when he decided to bolt.

We have tried ignoring, time out, spanking, rewarding good behavior -- none of which works. What I am currently doing is saying nothing to him, just calmly walking toward him (after signaling for another adult to assist me). This way, I know when he runs, he will immediately be caught. I continue to say nothing to him, just take him by the hand and lead him to wherever I wanted him to go in the first place. I've been trying this technique for three weeks and cannot see improvement.