Caregivers
Resources for Caregivers
For caregivers and providers of individuals with Autism, creating a safe and supportive environment is crucial, both inside and outside the home. Resources and strategies that address potential risks can significantly improve quality of life and reduce stress. Some critical areas where this applies are home safety, engagement with first responders, and water safety.
Within the home, ensuring a safe environment helps prevent accidents, reduces chances of wandering, and fosters independence. Outside of the home, individuals with Autism may face heightened risks in unfamiliar settings, making it essential to have plans in place to navigate these environments safely. Additionally, interacting with first responders can be challenging for individuals with Autism who may have difficulty communicating or responding to commands during emergencies. Being prepared with information and plans can help mitigate risks and ensure smoother interactions during critical moments.
Water safety is another pressing concern. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children with Autism, making it imperative for caregivers to be educated on water safety precautions and for children and adults with Autism to learn essential swimming and water survival skills.
By addressing these areas – safety in and outside of the home, engagement with first responders, and water safety – families, caregivers, and providers can offer safer, more empowering environments, for individuals with Autism. These efforts reduce risks, increase understanding, and promote the well-being and autonomy of Autistic individuals.
Feedback from Caregivers
At ASGA, having feedback from caregivers allows us to know how impactful ASGA’s training(s), resources, and events are for the community. Please complete a feedback form if you have utilized information on wandering/elopement, water safety, and other safety information.
- Each Day: Make sure doors, gates, windows, and garage doors are securely shut.
- Secure yards: Install a fence in your yard if it doesn’t have one and promptly make repairs when needed.
- Create a safety plan: Before an emergency happens, decide as a family how you will contact each other, where you will go, and what you will do in an emergency.
- Complete an emergency card: Several cards may be needed. Put one in the glove compartment of your car, one on your refrigerator, give one to your emergency contact, and provide a copy to the school and your local law enforcement.
- Develop search plans: Identify bodies of water near the home (neighbor’s pools, canals, lakes, ponds, Intracoastal, etc.) and other places of interest to search in case of wandering.
- Secure bodies of water: Install pool fences with self-latching doors around pools or bodies of water on the property.
- Secure doors and windows: Install door alarms on each door or window in the house: the chimes will alert the people in the house that someone has opened the door/window.
- Display a safety decal: “Autistic Occupant” on the window.
- Consider using visual aids/communication boards: Practice to ensure individuals have a way to communicate their basic needs/wants, express distress, and request help.
- Know wandering triggers: Children with ASD can be impulsive and typically wander or bolt from a safe setting to get to something of interest, such as water, the park or train tracks. They might run off to escape a situation they find stressful or frightening, such as one with loud noises, chaos, or bright lights.
Teach and practice safety procedures.
Help your child/adult with ASD learn how to safely cross the street, following simple commands such as “Stop”.
Talk to trusted neighbors when applicable.
Trusted neighbors can be of assistance in case of an emergency and can be part of a safety plan. Use ASGA’s Wandering Letter to let neighbors know an individual with Autism who tends to wander lives in the neighborhood.
Consider tracking devices or ID tags.
More than 1/3 of children with ASD who wander are never or rarely able to communicate their name, address or phone number. It may be helpful to have things like GPS devices, medical alert tags, and even their name marked inside clothing.
Check out this article for guidelines on what to consider when choosing a tracking device.
How to Choose the Right GPS Tracker for Your Special Needs Child
In Ohio, state IDs and driver’s licenses can have “Autism” placed on them to notify first responders the individual has Autism.
The state of Ohio has Autism license plates that display the Autism ribbon on them. This also helps first responders know that a person with Autism is most likely in the vehicle.
Communicate with your child’s school or day program.
Working together with a school or day program is essential regarding safety outside the home. Share information with the team about wandering with ASGA’s IEP Team Letter.
Find legal and advocacy resources.
Caregivers and providers can never have enough resources to help individuals with Autism in their lives. More resources can lead to better safety measures in education and the community. Resources for legal concerns, education, advocacy, and more are listed on the following:
- Collaborate with first responders: Knowing your local law enforcement before an emergency is helpful. If a person goes missing and is familiar with the person, it will help them identify how best to approach them in an emergency.
- Keep a Wandering History Log: If a person with Autism in your home or day program is prone to wandering, keeping a Wandering History Log can give pertinent information to first responders when a person with Autism is missing.
- Create an emergency information card: Alert local first responders utilizing an emergency information card to give dispatchers pertinent information. (Keep this up to date including a yearly updated photo).
- Notify local first responders that a person with ASD lives in your home. Give first responders a copy of the emergency information card.
- Let First Responders know about the Safety Decal. Share the family search plan with First Responders.
- Ohio’s Endangered Missing Adult and Child Alerts include those individuals with Autism and other developmental disabilities.
- For Summit and Stark County residents, the Take Me Home program allows caregivers to register individuals with Autism into the database. This database is used to help first responders with local missing individuals with Autism and other developmental disabilities.
- Prepare for interacting with first responders: Individuals with Autism during times of anxiety and stress will have an even more difficult time communicating their needs to first responders. Reviewing and reminding the safety tips on how to interact with law enforcement and other first responders can help keep everyone involved in emergencies safe.
- Enroll in water safety or swimming lessons to reduce the chances of drowning or teach about water safety. ASGA’s Water Safety Program happens twice a year. Call our HelpLine at (330)-940-1441 ext. 1 for more resources.
- Use the ASGA Water Safety Caregiver checklist to help keep your child safe near water.
- Regularly talk to your child and remind them that there are rules about water. While water is everywhere, it is not safe to go into the water without an adult.
- Use social stories that teach about the dangers of water.
- Periodically speak with neighbors who have pools to make sure fences, gates, and alarms (if an inground pool) are secure and up to date.
- If your person with Autism should wander, check nearby bodies of water first and call 911.
Pool Safety in Ohio
When it comes to water safety and elopement, be sure to talk to your neighbors who have pools and let them know of your concerns.
Ohio requires every private pool to have:
- An inground pool fence separate from the fence in a yard.
- Height of the fence will vary depending on the city or county in Ohio, but normally it is between 40-60 inches high.
- Gate locks should be in working order and lock behind a person when they enter/exit.
- Above-ground pool ladders should be pulled out of the water after each use and should have a lock to prevent access to the pool.
- It is recommended that inground pools have an alarm system in case a person falls into the water when the pool is not in use.
- Keeping lines of communication open with neighbors about Autistic individuals in your home and their safety around neighborhood pools can help reduce the chances of drowning from wandering.
This website is funded in whole or in part through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).
The safety resources and toolkits for Safety on the Spectrum™ were funded in part or in whole through a grant from the FirstEnergy Foundation. FirstEnergy does not operate, control, is responsible for, or necessarily endorses, this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).
