Just as there is the Amber Alert for abducted children, should there be an “Autism Alert” when an autistic child is missing? The parents of Kaitlyn Bacile—-who, in September, was found drowned in a canal near her home —-think so, as reported in today’s WSVN (Florida):

While it’s too late for Kaitlyn, her parents hope some good can come from their tragedy.

Jay Bacile: “We want Kaitlyn’s life not to go in vain, at the very minimum we want to raise awareness. We just want her memory to live on and do good because that’s what Kaitlyn was, was pure goodness.

WSVN notes that current programs designed to report that autistic children are missing are “not being used consistently”:

The “Take Me Home” program supplies police with pictures and information of at-risk kids.

But of the 271 law enforcement agencies in Florida, only 41 use it. “A Child is Missing” is a national emergency system which can put out 1000 alert calls in one minute to a neighborhood where a child goes missing.

Claudia Corrigan, ACIM. “It’s important to get these calls out there immediately, and we can do it. You have a small window of time it’s a two to three hour and even then, if there’s water nearby it’s very very tough.”

The service is free to police, but they don’t always use it. Finally, only 37 police departments in Florida have picked up a program called project lifesaver.

Wristbands allow rescuers to track the person wearing it, but it puts the burden on parents to pay for a $300 bracelet. And most autistic children have sensory issues and won’t wear them.

Tina Brea: “This is a child that cannot communicate, that cannot understand the simple commands that others their age can. So any attention that can be brought to this the better.”

What would be the best way to spread the word, as quickly as possible, that a child is missing?

11-year-old Jonathan Rios has been missing since around 11am Friday morning in Northeast Portland, Oregon Live reports:

Police said Jonathan Rios and was last seen around 11:00 a.m. on the 7300 block of Northeast Siskiyou Street.

Police said Jonathan was in the car with his foster father when they had an argument about a broken video game. Jonathan’s foster father left him in the car while picking up another child from school, and when he returned, Jonathan was gone, police said.

Jonathan is autistic and is said to have a history of running away.

13-year-old Austin Large has been missing since earlier this week, when he did not return from a fishing trip with his father, Eugene Large. Today’s AM 900 reports that police now believe that this may be a case of parental abduction:

Witnesses though have told police they saw the two aboard a ferry to Manitoulin on Saturday, and that they bought 2 beige t-shirts.

They were then spotted in Espanola about 4 hours later.

Police believe they may still be in northern Ontario, en-route to either Alberta or eastern Canada.

It’s believed Austin is out of his autism medication and that his father is stressed and behaving abnormally, following the break-up of his marriage.

Hoping that Austin is back home, soon.

13-year-old Austin Large, who is autistic, is missing, according to the September 22nd New Durham Region. Austin and his father, Elias Large, were to return from a fishing trip on Monday. When they did not, Austin’s mother contacted police.

Police say they could be traveling in a white 1999 GMC Sierra extended truck with a large green tool box. The licence plate number is NE7 917.

Austin is described as white, 5′5″ tall, and weighing 160 pounds. He has a heavy build, brush cut, light brown hair and blue eyes.

The boy and his father were supposed to have spent the weekend fishing on Lake Nipissing but when they did not return home Monday as planned, Austin’s mother called police.

“They did not go to the lake,” said Hamilton Police Detective Sergeant Chris Kiriakopoulos.

“We are very concerned.”

According to Det. Sgt. Kiriakopoulos, Austin’s autism medication runs out tomorrow. He said that police are worried about the father’s mental state following the deterioration of his marriage to Austin’s mother.

Police have checked with the father’s family in Cambridge but have not found any leads as to the pair’s whereabouts.

An Amber Alert was issued and ended Monday night. Anyone who sees Austin or his father is asked to call 911.

Yet another report of an autistic individual—Angel Brooke McKinnley, a 22 year old woman in Provo—-who is missing. There’s been numerous stories about autistic children and adults missing this summer, and Project Lifesaver has been mentioned a couple of times. A friend’s son has one of the Project Lifesaver devices and I was surprised at how big it is; it’s a lot of plastic strapped onto a small boy’s wrist. He’s okay wearing it but I don’t think Charlie would tolerate it at all and would probably try to get the device off his wrist, and not be too happy when he was not able to.

Impossible these days not to look at Charlie and think, big kid. Standing on the edge of the ocean, deeply tanned and with strong shoulders, he’s (as Jim likes to say) a long, tall, drink of water. I know he was just not so big last year, when I often noted that he was “a few inches shorter than me.”

That day when our child looks down at us: What kind of pride does a parent feel (a bit in awe, in my case). When you’re the parent of a disabled child, there’s twice as much the pride, but also something more of worry and a twinge. Another friend visited us at the beach on Monday and I found myself, for several minutes, holding her one-year-old baby. I felt especially aware of how small he was, and how easy it was to steady his weight on my hip and support him on my left arm. I knew Charlie had once been as small though he always had very long limbs and seemed to be wriggling and moving most of the time.

Needless to say, those days are long, long gone. My mom gave Charlie a sleeveless shirt which he has not wanted to wear (shirts must have sleeves, I guess) so I’ve been wearing it. He used to like to wear my shoes for fun but now they;re too small for his feet. Charlie’s every inch the adolescent and, being such, seeking his independence; testing limits and pushing at boundaries and wanting to do things himself, like swimming in the ocean. Charlie knows he’s supposed to swim between the two flags and nothing has been annoying, angering, him as much as when Jim or I remind him that he has to walk all the way over: We’re barging in on his space; we oughtn’t to to be holding his hand; he wants to do it all himself, and we have to be parents and remind him, rules are rules.

I recently read a book by the father of an autistic child; the authors notes that his son will always be the same age inside, that he’s  sort of like Peter Pan, a boy who never grows up. Charlie’s delays are clear and obvious, this summer on the beach, but far from being a toddler in an adolescent’s body, he’s an adolescent in an adolescent body. A couple of times, of late, there’s been crying “out of the blue,” there’s been mood swings, and I’ve thought back to my own adolescence, and stormy, up and down memories of emotions and feelings: Why does growing up have to be so rocky sometimes?

One thing about my now older, approaching teenagehood son. So far, it doesn’t seem like we’ll need (fingers crossed) a Project Lifesaver device. While younger, there were times when Charlie wandered off, into a neighbor’s yard to use their slide, and much panic ensued. He’s been pacing in the yard and driveway of the beach house, and seems not at all inclined to wander off; he seems to know he needs to stay close to home and wait for Jim and me.

Though I think I’ll always have my ears attuned for the sound of Charlie’s voice, and my eyes making sure I see his ever taller form close by.

Reading another account of an autistic child, 11-year-old Alex Irvin, who found his way back to trailhead after three nights alone in the woods, I think back to the numerous stories about autistic children lost, wandering off, left behind that have been circulating this summer and conclude, I know why an autism consultant to Charlie’s school district talked about teaching kids to know when they are lost, and to know what to do (and what not to).

You’ve got to know you’re lost first, so you can look for help.

I got a new phone yesterday. I’d been hesitant to this for a long time. Even though I knew I’d be able to have my same phone number ported over to the new phone, that little voice that says “well, you never know, could be……” kept running an endless loop in my head.

Charlie, you see, has memorized my cell phone number and recites it perfectly. When we’re out in places like New York city, we’ve been placing a card with his name, mention of his having autism, and my cell number on his person. But if he knows the number, he can always have it with him.

Meaning that, I always need to have the cell phone with me, and that phone always has to have the same number. Sure Charlie could memorize a new number, but who knows which number he might say at a moment of confusion, and to a stranger? I still remember the phone number for the house we lived in when I was 4 - 8 years old; it’s the first number I ever had to memorize and it’s still there.

In yesterday’s Arizona Star, Johanna Eubanks—whose 22-year-old Dave is autistic—notes that many and any public places are potential “minefields” for autistic children. She cites a number of recent stories of autistic children and adults wandering off and being lost, sometimes for days, and also many recent reports of autistic children and adults getting very upset in public places (a church, an airplane) and of the bafflement of bystanders and (in some cases) police and other first responders about what to do—-and also an additional concern: An autistic person (this would include my son, I suspect) may not consider her of himself lost.

Almost every parent has a story of losing a child in a mall, department store, amusement park or some other public place where people are spread out over a large area. Most typical younger children who are lost cry, someone asks the child’s name and then an announcement goes out for Johnny’s mother to pick up her son at customer service or something similar.

But what happens when the child doesn’t speak? What happens when he won’t talk to a stranger, or he’s old enough that he doesn’t appear to be a lost child? Some children with autism are real wanderers and are quite content on their own even if they really shouldn’t be.

There have been a few stories in the news lately of missing people who have autism. They are harder to find. Some are afraid of the strangers who are looking for them and hide. Some simply don’t know they are missing. They aren’t afraid, so no one who sees them realizes something is amiss, unless of course the missing person looks too young to be out alone.

If police are called in when an adult autistic person—who looks “normal”—-is upset, they may think “think they are dealing with someone who is just being beligerant [sic] or is high on drugs” and use excessive force and restraints and even be aggressive. An autistic man named Kevin Colindres went into a coma after police forcefully subdued—in essence hogtied—him; very sadly, he passed away after falling onto a coma. This is something I’ve thought about a lot more as my son Charlie has grown taller and bigger. If he’s anxious in a public place, he might, one time, holler some wordless sounds and when people see the source is not a little kid, they get anxious.

People seem to judge how they respond based on how I respond and if I’m not showing signs of distress, they usually just go on with their business. Sometimes, I’ve started to say to Charlie, “It’s okay to be anxious, we’ve never been here before and you’re doing fine……” I invoke the keep calm and carry on mantra and we keep walking, together. And as one hand checks my bag just to be sure, the phone is there, both eyes are Charlie.

Keith Kennedy was found last Sunday night. Another story of an autistic individual wandering, and into water: A 4-year-old boy, Derek Casanova-Gonzalez, was found unconscious in an outdoor fountain in Clayton, North Carolina, and is now in the hospital. The News-Observer reports that his parents were cleaning a nearby early childhood center and realized that he was missing; on searching, they found him in the unconscious in the fountain.

Hoping Derek is ok.

In Newark, Ohio, 9-year-old Dustin Blackburn, who is autistic, wandered into the woods beside his house on Wednesday afternoon and was found in the next hour. Today’s Advocate Reporter reports that Dustin was wearing a wristwatch-like Project Lifesaver device, a wristwatch-like band on his ankle. At 4.35pm, his mother, Beth Blackburn, called 911 within seven minutes of his disappearance. Licking County Sheriff’s Office deputies, as well as an Ohio Highway Patrol airplane and officers, arrived quickly on the scene and found Dustin at 5.25pm.

An agency in central Wisconsin is seeking to raise funds to expand Project Lifesaver in its area; here in New Jersey, the Sheriff’s Office in Bergen County has a Project Lifesaver program, as do other New Jersey counties.

The Sheriff’s office and Dustin’s mother both attribute his being found so quickly thanks to the Project Lifesaver device. The usefulness—even the necessity—of such devices is sadly underscored by the story of 25-year-old Keith T. Kennedy who has been missing since Sunday, when he was last seen at a camp for disabled adults in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. A June 19th TwinCites.com article noted that his father, Bruce Kennedy, has been “wishing he had gotten a global positioning system device for his son.” Hundreds of volunteers have joined the search for the missing man; the recipient of a kidney transplant 14 years ago, Keith T. Kennedy has now gone several days without medication that ensures that the organ is not rejected and that it functions properly. He can only speak four words. WSAW reports that the search will continue through the weekend.