Study: Half of Children With Autism Flee Safety

Photo by *Clairity* at Flickr Creative Commons.

By Dalia Colón -

A new study confirms what many families already know: that some people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) wander, bolt or “elope” from safe places. Several advocacy groups partnered with the Interactive Autism Network to survey more than 850 families of children with ASD.

The preliminary findings:

• Among children with ASD ages 4 to 10, roughly half had attempted to flee safety. That’s almost four times higher than the rate for their unaffected siblings.

• Of children who attempted to flee, nearly half succeeded and went missing “long enough to cause parents significant concern about their safety,” the report states. Two-thirds said their children had... READ MORE >

Autism Website Prioritizes Law Enforcement Issues

Autism After 16, a website on adult autism issues, has added a Police Officer to its writing team to help build dialogue between law enforcement personnel and families of autistic adults. Police Lieutenant Jerry Turning's first contribution focuses on dealing with a teen or adult who becomes a missing person. [ READ MORE ]

As more children with autism become adults, communities need to know how to incorporate them well,” says the website’s editor, Merope Pavlides.

From PRWeb  |  Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net