They have endured so much heart-ache over the past 8 years, let us hope they
may finally be at peace.
http://www.danielmorcombe.com.au/
GPS TRACKING......... FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN.
My youngest son has never been a "runner" . I have been lucky enough never to loose him in a Shopping Centre or when we are out. But this week, after an incident at his school where he was lost for around 8-10mins, I have been faced to consider the prospects of what some might consider extreme precautions.
It can really happen to anyone. One minute your child is firmly in your sights or standing by your side.... and the next, they are gone. At school, this is particularly difficult. With so many children all wearing the same uniform bustling along to their classrooms after lunch, it is very easy to loose sight of one of them. When my youngest first started at his school, he was in a Prep Area. Basically the old preschool area of the school. It has a large fence all the way around the classrooms and includes an outdoor play area. Because the children do wear a compulsory uniform, we made the decision to place a lyric hat band on his school hat. We stuck with the school house colours as there were a few children who require constant monitoring. That way if my son was playing with his peers he could be spotted easily, just by his hat. This has worked beautifully especially with his transition into the bigger playground area of the school.
Now all the staff at my son's school know of him and by name. Before my son began full time schooling I had prepared power point presentations for the staff informing them of his traits and triggers and they were also in-serviced about Autistic children. Our school even went as far as teaching the staff Auslan key sign language, just in case it would be needed. My son struggles to make eye contact with unfamiliar faces, but has peripheral vision. So if he saw someone signing, he would comply, without actually looking at their faces.
On Wednesday I received a phone call from our Inclusive teacher in charge of Learning Support. She was rather rattled by the days events. My little boy on the way back from the playground, had gone missing for a short period of time. He was located in the end.... and he was perfectly safe, but his Teacher Aides and staff at the school, even including the tuck shop lady had all been involved in a frantic search trying to find him when he didn't arrive at his classroom.
The alert went out immediately when they realised he was lining up with his peers out the year one classroom. The first place his aides checked were of course the toilet blocks. But he wasn't there. The teacher on charge had been following him walking up to the classroom with his friends, but in the bustle of the crowds, she had lost sight of him and assumed he continued walking to his room. This was the norm.
I feel a little sorry for his Aides and the Learning Support teacher. My child has become like a son to them. Panic set in when he wasn't in the junior toilets... the toilets he has always used. The ladies began running frantically through the school calling out to him, checking car parks and looking under cars. This is the point where I think they all got really scared. One of his Aides described the scene to me, saying the fear was just like loosing her own child and was totally overcome with nausea. Eventually he was found....
sitting in a cubicle of the senior boys toilets. The toilet paper had run out and he was happily just sitting and waiting, babbling to himself, swinging his little legs. One Aide ran into him, helped he out and brought he back to the classroom. By this time the other staff met her there, and laying eyes on his happy little face, they burst into tears, hugging him in relief. Now my child , totally unaware of all the fuss, gave them all a look of
" You lot are crazy.... I was just in the loo!....give me a break!"
Everyone can see the funny side of the situation, needless to say the teachers and Aides needed one giant, stiff drink when 3pm rolled around, but I think it did raise the possibility of; what if ?
"What if my son had been taken ? or had wandered off ?" "What did I have in place to firstly identify him and secondly, how would we locate him ?" To be truthful.... I had no action plan, no safety precautions. That in itself is a very scary thought. I guess I felt I had no need for anything like this. I have always been with him, even on excursions. Like I had said earlier, he never ran away from me to the point of me chasing him down or loosing sight of him. When I eventually got off the phone to his teacher and made my way to school, the realisation of the whole day did hit me. You hear stories and read about it in the news every day, Autistic children, missing, taken some with a happy ending, some with a fatal ending. It is a very real situation for parents and carers of Autistic children. My son has no skills to seek any kind of help. He would go with a stranger, especially if offered a lolly. The fact that he is non verbal means he wouldn't call out for help, he wouldn't say
"No !" or resist. He is very compliant with relief teachers, or parents who come into the school to help read with the children. In fact, we have taught him to be like that. So if he was approached by a stranger..... it would result in the worst outcome a parent could imagine. It gives me goose-bumps just thinking about it!
For the past few days I have been surfing the net in search of information regarding what is available for Autistic and Aspergers children. Personal safety I.D bracelets, medical tags and temporary tattoos are available here in Australia, and that would certainly contain the information that my child was Autistic, but they do pose a problem for children who have incredibly high sensory needs and could not tolerate to wear a bracelet or a necklace... or even a sticker or tattoo. These of course would only work if a good hearted person located a wandering child anyway. But what if that person didn't have the best intentions? Those I.D's would be useless. In the U.S there are many reports and associations that advocate G.P.S tracking for disabled children and the elderly. These devices are more readily available outside of Australia, which isn't really helpful either. However what I did find out is; personal tracking devices can be placed into phones or bags and children can be tracked via an App on your mobile phone. For an outlay of a few hundred dollars, it offers peace of mind. The only catch is the size of these devices, and with some companies, a monthly monitoring fee is needed. It works a little bit like a private security system. So these may not be the best answer either, especially for a single parent in my current situation. I did find a few devices that were around the size of a dog tag or a USB. I considered the option of sewing them into my child's hat band or inside a pocket on his uniform. As long as it couldn't be really felt or wasn't too heavy it would be perfect.... but again trying to buy something like this in Australia, from a US company, posed problems with compatibility. I also made a few inquiries with a friend who works for the Queensland Police, and they are out there, but I am yet to locate a device that would work. I was actually surprised to see that Autism Queensland and Aspergers Australia didn't offer much information to parents on this topic in general. With an obvious need this is quite disappointing.
Anyway I have included some websites for anyone interested to view. I would also appreciate hearing from anyone who can help or know of a company who offers support in this particular area. I think it will come down to finding the right type of personal safety precautions that will be suited to your particular child and their individual needs.
It is definitely something worth considering though!
