I definitely use a harness with my granddaughter when out in public. I will also look for alarms for the doors and windows. Great suggestion!!

The eloping is always an issue, other than the extra locks you can by door and window alarms that are wireless so if the locks didn't work you would know. You can get a GPS system like Angel Sense but it doesn't work for all. My daughter won't wear layers and won't keep shoes in so it won't work for us. When you are in public you can use a harness so the child can't run or get an RX from the doctor fir an adaptive stroller.

In regards to the speech, some children do eventually speak and some don't other than single words. My daughter is 11 and can only say 20 or so words and not all clear. She does use PECS, sign language and a speech tablet to communicate though. There is always hope fir communication, it is just not always speech.

I had to do the same thing for my five year old granddaughter who I have legal guardianship over. She got out the door of our second floor apartment and managed to make it halfway down the stairs by the time I caught up with her. All you can really do is take whatever preventive measures you can, i.e. additional locks that they cannot reach or open, and watch them vigilantly. Believe me I know how challenging it is!!!

Hi, my 6 year old son Landon is the same. He has been an escape artist since he learnd to walk and he actually got out of the fence in our yard 2 years ago and technically drowned in the creek down the road from our house before I found him and did cpr to get him back. Believe me I know your struggle. We had to put double sided dead bolts on both doors of our house that can only be opened by a key on both sides. My whole family that lives close has keys of their own and there is a key that stays on a ring in the house hidden from him so anyone can get in and out when needed. Also all of our windows have what are called thumb screws that secure them from being opened by him but for an adult they are not difficult to remove in case of a fire etc. We did have a chain link fence around the front of the house so he could play outside but after he climbed it and got to the creek we put in a privacy fence he could not climb just so we can have a few moments of peace while he's playing outside. It can seem like living in a prison sometimes but all of our family and friends have adjusted to it well and after the creek incident I would rather live in fortitude than without him. Also he has always been nonverbal but he is very smart and just this year (he is turning 7 in October) he is starting to use words. His special needs teacher at school was great for kindergarten but also he has begun to repeat every word and sound from a dvd series for speech I found on Amazon called "Baby Babble". Hope this helps you in some way!

Do what ever you need to do to keep your child safe. And watch him or see him as much as possible.I put stop signs on the doors . i went on line to STOP SIGNS and printed some out. We have other locks too. But they really NEED TO BE WATCHED OR IN SIGHT as much as possible.