Pediatric subjects between the age of 4-12 years with autistic spectrum disorder and elopement will begin the Elopement Prevention and Safety Training (EPST) program. EPST includes up to 12 120-minute weekly sessions delivered over approximately 12-14 weeks. EPST is a modular treatment, with three components: 1) Universal Safety Measures (USM), 2) Proximity training, and 3) Check-in training. All participants receive the USM module in the first two sessions. They then receive either the Proximity training or Check-in training module depending on the type of elopement exhibited by the child (i.e., bolting vs. wandering).

Pediatric subjects between the age of 4-12 years with autistic spectrum disorder and elopement will be assigned to the Waitlist Control group. The subjects will be offered the intervention after completion of the 12-week waiting period. The subjects will then begin the Elopement Prevention and Safety Training (EPST) program. EPST includes up to 12 120-minute weekly sessions delivered over approximately 12-14 weeks. EPST is a modular treatment, with three components: 1) Universal Safety Measures (USM), 2) Proximity training, and 3) Check-in training. All participants receive the USM module in the first two sessions. They then receive either the Proximity training or Check-in training module depending on the type of elopement exhibited by the child (i.e., bolting vs. wandering).

During the first session, the therapist conducts a home safety evaluation. During the second visit the therapist provides the caregiver with an individualized Elopement Prevention & Safety Plan (EPSP) based upon the results of the evaluation. The remainder of the session is spent helping caregivers make plans to implement the EPSP to reduce the risk of elopement or lessen the risk of harm to the child if they do successfully elope.

An independent evaluator (IE) will conduct a parent target problem survey to help caregivers estimate the frequency of elopement as well as its impact on the family. From this description, the IE (who will be blind to treatment assignment) will generate a brief narrative describing the participant's elopement. This narrative will be used by the IE to rate the overall severity on the 7-point Clinical Global Impression for Severity (CGI-S). Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S) Scale is a clinician's assessment of patient's severity of illness. The score ranges from 1 = normal, not at all ill to 7 = among the most extremely ill patients

Number of times a subject exhibits bolting and wandering at baseline and post-intervention. Change in elopement will be subtracting the number of bolting and wandering events from post-intervention and baseline.