On a cold day in March 2017, Sahara McCallister, 7, slipped away from her home in Germantown, Maryland, while a babysitter was caring for her. The babysitter found Sahara, who has autism and is nonverbal, at a park, but when she called for her, the girl ran away. After more than an hour, the babysitter called the Montgomery County Police Department, and officers launched a search.
Operating his police cruiser as he looked for Sahara, Officer Jonathan Pruziner spotted a drainage pipe near some townhouses. Pruziner and other officers had been trained by fellow Officer Laurie Reyes, the department’s autism, intellectual developmental disabilities and Alzheimer’s outreach officer. Reyes and her team, along with MCPD search managers, police officers who receive and provide training in searching for people, taught the officers that many people with autism wander to places they’re attracted to — particularly bodies of water. Reyes also trained officers to get out of their cars when they’re searching for an autistic wanderer. The training kicked in: Pruziner stopped his cruiser, got out and walked along the drainage pipe to a small pond, where he found Sahara laying on her back near the water. She was wet and cold — temperatures were in the 30s — but alive. Emergency rescue workers took her to a local hospital, where doctors treated her for hypothermia.
More than 3.5 million people in the U.S. live with autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, according to the Autism Society. About half of all children with ASD try to wander or bolt from a safe place where they’re supervised, research based on parent surveys suggests, according to the National Autism Association. Bolting, or eloping, is when someone with ASD leaves a location or situation where he or she feels uncomfortable, like a place with a large, noisy crowd. For people with ASD, some of whom have limited or no verbal skills, wandering or bolting can be dangerous. Between 2009 through the end of 2017, 185 people with ASD died after leaving settings such as their home, school, a group home, foster care or a public place, according to the NAA. “Out of 808 reported ASD missing person cases of wandering/elopement in the United States from 2011 to 2016, 17 percent resulted in death and an additional 13 percent required medical attention,” according to the association.
About 1 in 45 children have ASD, according to a a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Center for Health Statistics. ASD impairs a child’s ability to interact and communicate with others, and common ASD behaviors include failure to respond to one’s own name, poor eye contact and lack of facial expression. Around one-third of people with ASD remain nonverbal, and about an equal percentage have an intellectual disability. About 44 percent of children diagnosed with ASD have average to above average intellectual ability, according to the CDC.
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“Children with autism are much more likely to wander off than other children. This unfortunately means that children with autism are at a higher risk for negative outcomes because they wind up placing themselves in unsafe situations,” says Jill Fodstad, a pediatric psychologist with Riley Children’s Health in Indianapolis who specializes in autism. “I hear this concern from parents in my clinic all the time. Families are worried. They feel overburdened and stressed with a feeling of added responsibility. It is important that we as a community are aware of the safety risk for children with autism. No one wants to be in a situation where children are not safe. Fortunately, there are targeted ways to improve safety for children with autism.”
If you’re a parent or caretaker of a child with ASD who’s prone to wandering or eloping, experts recommend these safety strategies:
1. Don’t hesitate to call 911. Some families will search for a missing loved one by themselves and feel they can’t call 911, according to the Montgomery County Police Department. For example, there are instances in which some caretakers — like Sahara’s babysitter — hesitate to call for help, perhaps because they feel they’ll get in trouble because the child wandered off or bolted under their watch, says Officer Rick Goodale of the MCPD public information office. Sometimes parents or caretakers don’t call for help because they don’t want to use police resources and try to search for the missing child himself or herself, Goodale says. And, Reyes adds, some parents or caretakers don’t want to call 911 because they’re worried about their immigration status. Reyes advises parents and caretakers to put those worries aside if a child with ASD wanders or elopes. “We don’t care about your immigration status,” she says. “We just want to find your child.”
2. Provide your child with ASD with identification. Consider an ID bracelet that shows your name and contact information, says Zonya Mitchell, clinical director and neuropsychologist at The Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities at Advantage Care Health Center in Brookville, New York. The ID bracelet shouldn’t show the child’s name, because someone with bad intentions could use that information to lure the youngster, she says. Montgomery County police encourages families of people with ASD to have the wearer show the bracelet to officers in the community. You can introduce the child to officers while you’re out in your city or town running errands or going on an outing to a park and happen to see an officer who isn’t busy conducting police activity, Goodale says. Events at which officers greet the public are also good opportunities to make such introductions, he says. For example, the MCPD has periodic “Coffee With a Cop” events at which members of the public can meet officers over coffee. This creates an encounter with police when the wearer isn’t under stress and reinforces the idea for the person with ASD that law enforcement officers are there to assist when needed. Rubber ID bracelets are available online for about $5 to $15 each.
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3. Communicate with your neighbors. Let your neighbors and local police and firefighters know your child has ASD, and ask them to call you or dial 911 if they see him or her out alone, says Dianne Zager, co-director and dean of education at Shrub Oak International School in Shrub Oak, New York. “Explain to them how to approach the individual,” she says. “Some may not want to be touched — and certainly not grabbed. You don’t want to shout; you’ll startle them. If they’re wandering, they may be anxious and upset and trying to get home.”
4. Provide your child with swim lessons. The ability to swim could save the life of a child with ASD who wanders to a pool, lake or pond, Mitchell says. “If they happen to wander off to a body of water, this would at least keep them safe for a longer time if they were to jump into the water than if they couldn’t swim,” she says.
5. Install an alarm. Parents and caregivers aren’t always immediately aware when a child with ASD has left the home. An alarm could alert you when your child departs unsupervised, Mitchell says. Home alarms vary widely in price. Installing an in-home security system could easily cost more than $1,000, with monthly monitoring plans ranging from $15 to $100 a month. If you can’t afford a more expensive professionally installed alarm system, more affordable alarms are available online for about $10 to $100.
6. Create a map of where your child has wandered before. The map could include a neighbor’s pool, a community or school playground or railroad tracks — the types of locations that some people with ASD are attracted to, Mitchell says. “If you have these pre-printed, you can start handing them out right away” to community members and first responders, Mitchell says. “Clearly, time will be of the essence.”
7. Write a checklist. This could include any distinguishing physical characteristics your child may have, medications he or she needs and how they may behave when under stress, says Errol Brudner, manager of protection and security for Atlantic Health System in Morristown, New Jersey. “When a child’s missing, most parents will be in crisis mode and won’t remember all the information they’ll need to provide to responders,” Brudner says. “If they have it written down, they can simply hand it to responders or recite it to an emergency dispatcher.”
[See: 12 Questions You Should Ask Your Kids at Dinner.]
8. Consider a tracking device. Technology can help you locate a child with ASD who wanders or elopes. For example, a tracking device could help you or first responders locate a child who’s wandered more quickly. There are a variety of options. Project Lifesaver International, a nonprofit organization that partners with 1,600 public safety agencies nationwide throughout the country, provides devices that look like wrist watches that rely on radio frequencies. “We have saved lives,” says Paul Ballance, chief of operations for Project Lifesaver. The organization provides training and equipment to participating law enforcement agencies. Radio transmitters for each device cost $250, and receivers run for about $1,200. Costs to families vary from agency to agency; some don’t charge families, while others charge based on income, Ballance says. Check with your local law enforcement agency to see if it’s participating in Project Lifesaver. Another option is AngelSense, which sells a GPS tracker that you can buy for $99, with monthly plans ranging from $33 to $52.
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How to Keep a Child With ASD Who Wanders Safe originally appeared on usnews.com
