Death of 7-year-old Liam King sparks urgent need for awareness among children with autism and cognitive impairments
By Bethany Cates
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WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (WLEX) — As the community continues to mourn the death of 7-year-old Liam King, advocates for children with autism and cognitive impairments say his death underscores the urgent need for prevention and awareness.
Selene Johnson, the executive director of ABC of NC, a nonprofit that provides educational services to children with autism, says, this is a painful reminder of the risks that comes with situations like Liam’s.
“It is a very real and overwhelming stressor that families who have autistic children face,” said Selene Johnson.
Johnson said she’s seen tragedies like this before, and her heart breaks each time.
“We’re very familiar with this, we’ve seen this,” said Johnson.
She says the number of kids who wander is exponential, and this is due to them not understanding the safety risk and being drawn to their interests.
“About 50 percent of parents say their children will wander, 50 percent of autistic kids, I mean, that is a lot,” said Johnson.
And a lot of the time, when it comes to searching, she says the age is not the greatest challenge.
“I think the challenge really comes from the disability, whether that is intellectual impairment of not understanding safety, or where the challenge is with speaking,” said Johnson.
Johnson says it’s important to have proactive measures in place, such as wearing identification bracelets, practicing call-and-response, in addition to knowing how to respond if approached by someone they don’t know.
“Even if you noticed within two minutes that they wandered off, if they’re out of your sight, you call their name and they’re nonspeaking, you now have all of this space, and you don’t know where to go,” said Johnson.
Johnson says it only takes a second for a life to forever change.
“The most vigilant caregiver in the world cannot be 100 percent of the time. A child can wander off in just a few seconds even,” said Johnson.
She says with new technology at our fingertips, she encourages families to see what’s out there and seek out resources according to your child’s needs.
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