Schools punishing students with autism for running (elopement) is sad. I was a runner when young. Please know that it is not to misbehave, but rather to escape the experience of autism’s confusing world. Your world is bearable, but ours is often jumpy or noisy or spinning. Running and feeling air swirling about can help erase these scary feelings. The escape made adults angry, but I could not keep my body there because it did as it pleased and did not listen to my directions. Please consider the confusing world of autism when deciding how to help us. Placing us inside a room with no way out or restraining us is punishing us for a disability we cannot rid ourselves of.