Around half of children who have autism wander from home at some point, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and the Cheshire Police Department is training today on how to respond to reports of this happening in town.
Liz Linehan, a Cheshire town counselor, organized the training and said Autism Speaks created a program for the town to help officers learn to help children with special needs.
“We’re excited to have someone from Autism Speaks create a program for us to help officers learn to effectively help these special needs children when they wander, and that includes a sensory experience, knowing how to approach them so that they don’t get spooked and run away,” she said.
The training, which began at 7 a.m., is the first part of a three-part program and officers learned about autism spectrum disorder and the sensory overloads children encounter.
Trainers said children often wander to water, so it's important to check pools or other bodies of water and children with autism deal with sounds, such as sirens, differently from other children.
William Gibbons said his 15-year-old son Logan has autism and has wandered.
"Every time it's different. Every time, he heads a different direction and we just pray to God that the police are able to do what they do," said William Gibbons, whose 15-year-old son Logan has autism.
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Other towns have responded to the types of calls Cheshire police are training to handle.
In Norwich a 10-year-old boy who is autistic disappeared twice and there was another case in Southington.
