I was shocked this morning at the initial news that a three-year-old girl had jumped from her mother’s car north of Springfield. My first thought was to wonder how to this happened and later this afternoon I heard something that made my heart sink because it hit a very real fear that I have…
I know this is a worry of mine and I take steps to keep Eli as secure as possible in the car. The child locks are on and I lock the windows so he can’t open them. (If he could, he would always put them down.) Fortunately, I have air conditioning in the car so I don’t have to put the windows down to try and cool the inside of the car.
Now, Eli always takes off his seat belt. When we leave anywhere, he’s buckled but usually within ten minutes of being on the way somewhere he’s unbuckled unless he has his Leapster or something else to distract him from his seat belt. Usually Dale will alert me that Eli’s taking off his seat belt and he puts it back on for him.
You know, it breaks my heart that Dale’s only seven and has to take care of his brother so much. I just know when Dale gets older he’s going to have a real heart for helping people because he’s done it his whole life with Eli.
Anyway…I digress. I felt this mother’s pain this morning because when you have an autistic child you never know when something like this is going to happen. In her case, I can easily see how she wouldn’t have heard her daughter jumping out of the window. The sound of rushing air with the open windows and the music turned up to try and soothe the girl would likely cover the “click” of a seat belt coming open and going out the window.
According to the reports I’ve seen, the mother immediately turned when she realized the girl was not in the back seat and returned to the last place she knew the girl was there while calling 911. It looks like the mother did all she could under the circumstances. After all, you don’t think that you need to find some other kind of seat belt harness for your child and the cost that goes into specially installing a restraint system.
My prayers are with the family right now both for the girl’s healing and for the people that are going immediately brand this woman a bad mother without ever knowing the struggles of dealing with an autistic child.
There is a significant number of children with Autism (as Jason well knows) that are “runners”, children who take off. Project Lifesaver is a program that was started to keep those who wander away safe. It is a national program and several counties in Missouri participate, including Greene.
The person (child or adult) is fitted with a wrist or ankle bracelet. If/when the person escapes or wanders off, or runs away, then the family contacts the sheriff’s department. They respond using electronic tracking (think Wild Kingdom) from the ground and sky.
It has saved many lives nationally as people are found in minutes or hours, rather than days or weeks.
In my last job, I was one of several who helped bring this to Webster County. We had many parents of children with Down Syndrome, Autism etc. who signed up immediately. I believe that Webster County is the go-to Sheriff’s Department in MO. Families of elderly persons also use this as that population can also be prone to wandering away.
Thanks for bringing attention to this very serious issue, Jason.
Project Lifesaver
http://www.projectlifesaver.org/site/
I should not have clicked so soon. Here is the link to Webster County’s Project Lifesaver. If memory serves and nothing has changed, Webster County is the one who provides training to any law enforcement agency that wishes to participate. So they know their stuff. Contact them with questions and how to get the ball rolling, even if you do not live in Webster County.
http://www.webstersheriff.com/prlife.php
My thoughts and prayers are with this woman and her family as well. I know all too well what people think about situations such as these. Unless you live it or work with those who deal with it everyday, one can not even begin to imagine what it’s like. While my daughter has not been diagnosed with autism, she has various learning disabilities which over the years have resulted in her doing things similar to this one. She jumped out at a stop light in Springfield with her grandmother in the seat beside her. Luckily her grandmother was able to grab one of her legs and pull her back in. I can just imagine what those around us thought. The first nine years of our journey was painful and heart breaking at times. If it had not been for the hard work and compassion of educators and a fabulous neurologist I hate to think about where we would be today. I hope everyone will see this situation for what it is and show support for parents of children with disabilities.
I once helped a family find a device that would keep their son with a pervasive development disorder in his seatbelt. I can’t remember where we finally found it, but we did it by searching on Google. The device was not that expensive (I think $5 - $15) and fit over the regular latch in a way the child could not unfasten it. Of course this depends on the age of the child and his or her level of mechanical ability. Some kids are just at figuring gizmos out!
I wish there was a greater level of empathy for children with pervasive developmental disorders and their families. People can be so harsh! I have such respect for these families who cope with things others don’t even think about (i.e. seatbelts) on a daily basis.