Please support the Mason Alert!

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No, it's not that. There's something wrong with the problem statement, rather than with the proposed solution.

Dandelion, do you mean this part?

"When an autistic child wanders or disappears, the immediate response should be a heightened state of awareness, and an instant realization of the danger that child is most definitely in. Due to their condition, all autistic children to one degree or another lack the ability to recognize danger signals.

They will walk into a busy intersection, despite traffic. They will walk through an open front door, not knowing if a predator is on the other side. They will hide in tight, enclosed spaces, not realizing the danger of suffocation or heat stroke. They will walk down a mile of railroad tracks, not realizing the train they love so much can kill them, and they will wade into the middle of a muddy pond, never thinking that they can't breath the muddy water."

If that's what you mean, I get it. They are pretty blanket statements that aren't always true. I wouldn't have done anything like that when I was a kid, but I do have a couple of sons who were like that, and still are to some extent, though nowhere near as bad as they used to be.

If this is what you mean, I agree these statements give an inaccurate perception of Autism in general. The statements do ignore the spectrum reality of Autism.

However, with kids for whom these things are not true, an alert of this type, or protocols added to the Amber Alert is probably never going to be needed. Protocols like what she is suggesting would only be needed for kids who actually do lack the common sense to stay out of traffic, ponds and rivers.

I try to see this as a life saving cause. Not an educational cause meant to increase overall awareness of Autism, but maybe that's why you're not comfortable with it. i can certainly see that her description of Autistic children could lead to an unfortunate and inaccurate assumption that ALL Autistics are like that, and it simply isn't true. I agree that, and other portions of her statement could be worded a lot better and more informatively. Again, exceptions to what she's said can be included in comments submitted.

Of course, I don't expect anyone not comfortable with it so sign it.

On the topic of the drowning statistic, I bit the bullet and bought the following study:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/l3460w3642714668/

Though I can't post the entire thing here, or link to it, due to copyright laws, here is what the study found:

"In the no or mild mental retardation group, deaths by seizures, nervous system dysfunction, drowning, and suffocation were all more than three times higher than would be expected in the general population."

"Deaths due to drowning and epilepsy are common in the California autism population and deserve further forensic study as does..."

In other words, the researchers thought drowning among Autistics was a high enough probability to warrant further research.

Clearly, it is a problem.

Yes, I think you're right; that is what I dislike about it. Thank you.

Interesting. I wonder whether there are any causes of death we're less likely to suffer.

I'm sure there might be. If I recall correctly, they did find that as we reach our teens we are less likely to die from, what was it...

"External causes of death excluding drowning and suffocation, which were analyzed separately, were actually lower than expected. This is largely because the general population death rate from injuries climbs rapidly in the teen years, whereas many teenagers with autism may lack the same opportunities for risky behavior."

Of course they are extrapolating, but that is part of what they're supposed to do. I think they're reasoning sounds, well, reasonable.

The leading cause was by far and a long shot, seizures, but that's almost all in adulthood. No special alerted needed for that no doubt.

This was a fifteen year long study that ended in ''97. Wonder if there are any new ones being done.

Here I took the time to offer more thoughts and did research on a much better and effective way to accomplish what this is trying to do.

http://www.aspieweb.net/mason-alert/

I actually did run into some info on Project Life Saver, and it looks pretty good. It sounded familiar, but don't remember seeing any detailed into on it until the day before yesterday.

The way I read the Mason Alert was not that the police should keep files on every Autistic kid, but that parents should, and give them to the police when the kids turn up missing. I could be wrong about how that was worded. Sometimes I envision things in what I think is the optimum way to do it instead of seeing exactly what the author wrote. That can be confusing for me and anyone reading me.

Was she suggesting media alerts be required? I missed that if she did. I do think that's a bit overboard, unless the child has already been missing for a while. I certainly don't have a problem with that decision being made by the police rather than being mandatory, as I believe it already is anyway.

An amber alert is only issued when a child has been exploited (i.e. kidnapped). Most people think that the second a child goes missing, an Amber alert is issued. This is not true. Not true at all.

And for those of you that don't understand the Mason alert (Zach), it is a program that would provide police with immediate information for the autistic child or adult that wanders. Why is that important? Because of several reasons, and I feel compelled to list them all so that maybe you will understand.

1. Someone with autism has absolutely no ability to recognize danger. They are fearless and most often have serious obsessions with dangerous things. I.e water (which was what my son was attracted to), vehicles, moving traffic, small, enclosed spaces, trains.... Get the picture. To them, nothing can hurt them. A pond is just a huge bathtub, the train rushing at them unable to stop is just a big version of their favorite toy, the moving cars are just like the pictures on TV.

2. The majority of autistic people are not verbal, or have an inability to communicate or follow directions. When a typical child wanders, people walk around yelling out the child's name. The child responds, moves closer to the voice, yells back... An autistic child would not do any of these things.

3. The number one occupation of an autistic child seems to be defeating all of your safety precautions, one by one. Ask any parent of an autistic child and they will be able to go through a list of different locks and devices they have used.

4. In stressful situations, autistic children often retreat into themselves and hide. A small hole, a refrigerator, a car trunk, a swimming pool, high weeds...a pond.

This alert would be an immediate source of information to authorities. It is essential for authorities to know how to look, where to look, and how to respond.

I never regretted having Mason. I thought I would when he was first diagnosed, but he was absolute joy in one tiny body and he filled me with happiness. I would thank God every day that he had given me a son I would have with me forever. I was so wrong. I only got him for five years and twelve days. That wasn't long enough.

Sheliamedlam, I took the all caps off your post because forum readers tend to react harshly to that method of posting. I want people to read your content, not get upset by your posting style. If you want to make something jump out, "bold" is an option.

I am very, very sorry for you loss. That is the nightmare of any parent; that everything you've done and can do still won't prevent tragedy. I wish you the best of luck in turning your personal tragedy into initiatives that will give the next child a better chance at a longer life.

You do have to understand a little about the members on this forum, however, if they are going to support your efforts to develop a better system when young autistics run off. You want the best initiate and program possible, so please accept that the notes are not criticisms as much as areas that could be improved.

Note, first, that even though most of our members do communicate and function in society, they still identify as Autistic.

Many will disagree with your broad descriptions of autistics having no ability to recognize danger. I don't think they would be comfortable with that as a generalization; the spectrum is quite wide, remember. I think the concept of danger is more relative; perhaps not having the sense of danger a rescuer would assume based on age and intelligence, and an appropriate association between fear and actual danger (many AS kids fear flushing toilets but not busy streets; go figure).

Many will also disagree with your statement that most Autistics are not verbal, and that most have the number 1 occupation of defeating safety measures. How that applies will depend on which parts of the spectrum you limit the term "autistic," to. While your mission is to put listeners on heightened awareness, the mission of most of our members is to abolish inaccurate stereotypes. Perhaps wording can be better chosen to meat objective A without forcing a step back on objective B?

Some of those raising conflict in this thread are no longer members here because of their tendency to be disruptive in general, but that does not mean all the concerns raised in this thread were invalid. Some are worth looking into if you want to make your project as successful as possible - which, I am sure, you do.

No parent should ever have to go through what you did. I am very, very sorry.

It's already been said, redundant idea.

It's the same thing as wanting "tourettes syndrome alerts" or "mental retardation alerts". What's the point? Just say the child has autism or whatever mental disability he or she has for the Amber Alert and it will be the exact same thing.

(Edit: read the post below, disregard this)

I just got a PM by the original poster of this thread explaining to me what is apparently the inspiration for the petition. (Correct me if I'm wrong) So I decided to reword the last post.

Very good idea. I do recognize that as Zach and others pointed out, it has downsides, but I think the good sides outweigh that. There are things autistic kids have in common that that would need to be taken into account when looking for an autistic kid that could save their life. If a regular kid is near some sort of danger, you can shout 'RUN!' or 'LOOK OUT!' and they will understand. An autistic kid might remain zoned out and continue to put his life in danger. Also giving out an individualized protocol is a very good idea. If a particular kid is fixated with water, or some other potential source of danger, anyone looking for them should know.

Just a little alert for this thread:

"SHEILAMEDLAM," who has now posted here and in the other thread about this, is Mason's mother.

Not that I'm saying everyone should necessarily agree with the idea of the alert. I value freedom of speech and ideas as much as anyone.

I'm just hoping that everyone will keep in mind the tragedy of the loss of her son was very recent, and word replies accordingly. I think she's been through and is still going through enough hurt already. The last thing she needs right now is to feel as if she's being attacked.