Safety in the Community for Young Children

It’s natural for parents to be concerned about the safety of their children. There are specific areas of concern that you should address if you have an autistic child. The most common safety concerns for autistic children are wandering and drowning. The following are practical strategies to address safety in the community.

It can be helpful to notify your police department that you have an autistic child in your home. Call your police department and ask if they have any identification programs for vulnerable residents such as autistic children. If they do, take time to go down to the precinct, if possible with your child, and register them. If they don’t have a formal way to register, ask if you can bring your child to meet with a police officer to tour the police station and make them more comfortable with what an officer might look like if they are approached.

You can also post a sign or decal indicating that an autistic child lives here near your front door and in your car by the passenger side door by where your child would be sitting. Or you can attach it to their seatbelt or their shoelaces.

Wandering and solutions

Many families worry that their children may wander from your home or away from you when you are out. A useful free resource is the Big Red Safety Box from The National Autism Association (NAA). This toolkit given to autism families in need is designed to educate, raise awareness and provide simple tools that can assist you in preventing, and responding to, wandering-related emergencies. NAA’s Big Red Safety Box includes identification materials like a bracelet or shoe ID, helpful documents for emergency planning, wandering prevention tools including door and window alarms, visuals for your home and much more.

Pool and Water Safety

If you have a pool at your house it needs a locked fence, pool alarm and pool cover.
Ensure you have a chime or alarm activated on each door of your house.
Discuss water safety and to never go to water without you. A social story with photos that explains safety can be useful. Autistic children may think literally so don’t assume they apply one situation to another or that they will truly understand safety when intrigued by the water.
Never leave young children unattended by the water.
Teach your child how to swim starting from an early age. If traditional swimming lessons aren’t right for your child, explore adaptive swimming lessons designed for children with special needs. Call the Milestones free autism Helpdesk for recommendations.

Outside and in the Community

Discuss with your child what to do if they get lost in a store or out in the community using a picture story or chart if helpful.

Make it clear who you can leave with and who your child’s safe people are. Create a picture story with photos of safe people. Mix in photos of some strangers to test that your child understands. Include their physical therapist and others who can spend time with them and touch them (but be clear on what is appropriate touching for that role).

Use it to explain layers of safety: These are safe people in this setting. Their physical therapist sees them in the physical therapy (P.T.) center or your home but is not allowed to pick them up at school and take them anywhere. Who is allowed to pick them up at school? Make sure they understand getting in the right car with the right safe person.

Teach your child parking lot safety such as holding an adult’s hand and understanding that cars are backing out and may not see them. Using the lines in a parking lot may help children note when to stop and look before crossing.

Autistic children may be more likely to run off and not understand the dangers of cars moving in and out of parking spaces. They may experience sensory challenges of the sounds of car engines running, honking of horns, motorcycles revving and sirens feeling much louder to them than to you. They may want to move quickly away from those loud sounds.

Teach basic universal symbols and what they mean. For example stop sign, crosswalk signs (walk/don’t walk/where to cross at a road), green light/yellow means slow down/red light.

Gradually work on teaching your child skills like crossing the street safely. The Organization for Autism Reseach Guide to Safety includes helpful tips for teaching skills like this.