NYT Op-ed: Wandering is a major concern for parents of autistic children

[matt819]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/opinion/wandering-is-a-major-concern-for-parents-of-children-with-autism.html?ref=opinion.

Interesting op-ed piece on another of the challenges facing families with autistic children. The gist is that some autistic children wander, and, of these, some die. This is tragic, of course, though the numbers are low, and it strikes me that there are any number of solutions that can be put in place via local, state, and national autistic support organizations. After all, I read the other day, for example, that more people - in the thousands - die every year from infections caught in hospitals than die of AIDS. So there are larger issues that deserve a national stage.

That's not my point, though.

If you're inclined to read the op-ed piece - it's short - I'd be interested to know the one sentence that, as a DUer, gets you riled up. No hints. But it really pissed me off.

[kcr]

1. It's hard to pick just one.

It's all pretty rage inducing. I bet you're talking bout the cop treating the poor kid like he just needs tough love. That pissed me off, too.

[Stargazer09]

3. I agree with that

If we could cure autism with "tough love," don't ya think we would have done it by now?

[Stargazer09]

2. As a parent of a wandering child,

I can certainly relate to that article. My son bolted from school a few times during kindergarten, with one event nearly leading to him getting hit by a speeding dump truck. Thankfully, the driver saw him in time, and the school has been great about helping my son learn more appropriate ways to handle the end of recess.

My son also liked to go on walkabouts through the neighborhood, but we stopped those with an alarm that was triggered by opening the front door. He hated the noise, so he stopped trying to go outside without us.

Our local sheriff's department offered me information on a tracking device right after that dump truck episode. Thankfully, we didn't need it, but it was comforting to know that it was available.

I'm angry that anyone would think that this isn't a problem, that it doesn't deserve the same level of training and funding that people receive for dealing with Alzheimer's patients.

[s-cubed]

4. I have an 8 year old family member who has both autism and Down's syndrome.

He wears an ankle bracelet of the type used for house arrest. It's not just autistic kids who are wanderes. Many kids with Down's do, as well as adults with dementia. The county provides the bracelet, but the family has to pay a monthly fee. Also, if they travel outside the county, they have to have the device registered with the new jurisdiction.

[hunter]

5. My siblings and I were feral children of feral parents.

There's a lot of "autistic spectrum" in my genes, but fortunately not a lot of entirely dysfunctional people. Even those who are dysfunctional and non-communicative have fared pretty well in family-subsidized living situations.

I was a "bolter," especially in middle school in a way that would be totally unacceptable to modern society. At the first hint of trouble I was out of there, over the chain-link fence if that was the quickest way. I was expected to make it home for dinner, at least until I was sixteen or seventeen. (Two of my siblings left home at that age...) School administrators gave up trying to draw any "reasonable" explanation out of me or my parents. Most of the time there really was no "reasonable" explanation. I'd explain it now as "too many words," or worse, scolding. "Too many words" or anticipating a scolding was often why I needed to take a walk. And don't touch me.

High school was the worst. I rode my bike to school because kids bullied me on the bus. I also didn't want to feel trapped into the six mile walk home.

I ended up quitting high school for college. College was still awkward at times but there were no more physical assaults from bullies, no more having to "explain" my absences, no roll calls, and no more scoldings from teachers or school administrators.

My parents "made me" learn how to swim even though I was hellishly awful to my first teachers and bit one when I was four years old. But knowing how to swim has saved my life a few times. Eventually I learned to enjoy large surf and okay-if-you-don't-have-a-swimsuit beaches.

My dangerous obsessions are electricity, explosives, and rockets. I've got scars on my back, and scars on my hands from the rockets and explosives. A quicker younger sibling once "explained" to my mom that I'd fallen int the brambles and was was kind enough to pick out the shrapnel. I returned the favor later by "explaining" some of his own misadventures. I'm pretty sure my dad was remaining silent. His dad was an eccentric dysfunctional in "real life," rocket scientist.

As a reasonable adult I'm still obsessed with a few things but mostly able to avoid danger.

I tend to think if autistic children are having trouble in our society then there is something wrong with our society.

***I HATE CARS***

***I HATE SEXUAL PREDATORS***

***I HATE BULLIES AND OUR SOCIETY'S TOLERANCE FOR THEM***

***I DON'T THINK WE ALL HAVE TO BE "USEFUL" TO STATE-MANDATED CAPITALISM***

Most of all I believe many kids living entirely within their very own autistic universes can be taught to deal with ordinary natural dangers like water, wild animals, "bad" people, and steep edges one might fall off of.

It's our obligation, as the more functional people of society, to look after those who are less functional. If you, as an adult, see an odd child wandering about in a potentially dangerous situation then it's your ethical duty to respond.

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. None of the sentences in the NYT article rile me up. None at all.

The OP, on the other hand...

Many kids with autism need CONSTANT vigilance. That means no sleep, no bathroom breaks, no turning your back to look into the fridge or at (God forbid) the television.

If technology can help in that regard, that's great, and I'm not about to buy into the frame that "the numbers are low" so it's not worth doing something effective about it.

[matt819]

7. What's your problem with my OP

Granted, I have no experience with autism, but I made it very clear that I am sympathetic to the issues raised in the op ed piece, and to the issues raised in the posts here. I wasn't minimizing the impact on families. I can see where you might take issue with my reference to the numbers. The only point I was making that there do seem to be measures that can be taken for autistic children who bolt. I don't dispute that other children elsewhere on the autism spectrum do need far more vigilance, and that this is incredibly challenging for families. But the writer of the op-ed piece concentrated on bolting, and those numbers appear to be low. That doesn't mean nothing should be done. In fact, the op-ed piece does acknowledge that technology can play a role, and I would think that there any number of organizations whose mission is to address these issues can accomplish this because the numbers are low.

And, as other posters caught my intent, I was trying to call attention to the police response, which was appalling. And, to be fair, that was one cop in one town. When my father was suffering from Alzheimer's, and before he entered a nursing home, he wandered, and the police where he lived were supportive and responsive. I will posit, however, that responses are varied, and trying to fix that issue is far more onerous.

So, if you are going to insult me with "The OP, on the other hand. . . " you would be well served to read the OP more carefully or just ask for clarification.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. "I can see where you might take issue with my reference to the numbers."

Answered your own question. "The numbers" aren't an excuse to minimize the issue, even if one in 50 boys weren't diagnosed with asd.

My son has autism, and I work for an organization dedicated to people with developmental disabilities. I often work with law enforcement to help educate them to identify the difference between I/dd and mental illness and drug use. Police overreaction is usually not based on ill intent but ignorance.