dimanche 10 avril 2016

Emergency Responder’s Autism Training: Sonoma County Joins The List Of Those Undergoing Training

autism awareness

More than 40 individuals in a group of local public safety personnel in Sonoma County were faced with the challenge of learning how to appropriate respond and anticipate the needs of the growing number of Americans with autism through emergency responder’s autism training on March 31 of this year.

This Sonoma County emergency responder’s autism training session was inspired by Beth Wyatt, Sonoma County Regional Parks Ranger, who has been involved in several urgent situations which involved children who were on the spectrum.

The Press Democrat reports one of these incidents involved a 10-year-old girl who needed assistance when she was coming to shore while swimming in the park’s swimming lagoon. The little girl was unable to tell anyone her name, and she was unable to interact with the lifeguard to determine whether or not she had taken in any water.

The second incident involved a little boy who had been kayaking with his mother and was unable to swim. The boat overturned in the water. While firefighters rescued the boy, they were unable to interact with the boy which prevented them from learning anything about his condition.

These two conditions taught Beth Wyatt that emergency responders did not have any experience with autistic individuals and were not sure how to appropriately handle them in an emergency situation. Wyatt also confirmed to The Press Democrat that her emergency medical training did not include any training on autism.

“Just as a parent, I wanted to do this training so my kids are safer in the community.”

Wyatt explained why she thought the emergency responder’s autism training was so important.

Nearly half a dozen of the officers and emergency responders who attended the training session in Sonoma County acknowledged that they have a family member on the spectrum. This includes Lt. David House who is the administrator at the county jail. House reported it is extremely common for jail personnel to call him when he isn’t on-duty to get his advice on how to handle someone with autism when they are brought into custody.

“I would certainly like to see more training like this.”

Lt. David House agrees with Beth Wyatt that there is a need for this type of training.

Sonoma County is not the first to recognize the importance of emergency responder’s autism training.

Lynchburg Police Department in Virginia was the first police department to train all of their officers and emergency responders on how to recognize the symptoms and signs of autism.

News 4 Jax reported a story about a 12-year-old autistic boy who had developed a fascination with calling 911. It was in school that he was taught how to call the number in case of an emergency. He got home one day and decided he wanted to try calling the number at home.

According to his mother, Didi Zaryczny, the boy was captivated by how repetitive and comforting the voice of the dispatcher was. It was not uncommon for the boy to dial and quickly hang up the phone. One evening, however, he forgot to hang up the phone before he went to hide in his closet. This resulted in a police officer coming to the home.

The police officer asked the boy if he meant to call 911 and the boy told him that he did. When the police officer asked him if there was an emergency, the boy told him there wasn’t.

“Any officer could think that this child is being smart with him, being disrespectful.”

The boy’s mother reveals the worst nightmare of any parent with a child who has autism. A situation in which a police officer may misinterpret the child’s autism with disrespect. The mother quickly explained to the officer that her son was autistic. Her and her husband would take turns watching the boy in 12-hour shifts to keep him from calling 911, but they had missed this particular phone call. According to the mother, the demeanor of the police officer immediately changed.

According to Zaryczny, this situation is an example of why the emergency responder’s autism training is so important. The Lynchburg Police Department in Virginia was the first police department to require all personnel to receive training on how to handle individuals with autism. Thanks to the training, the mother of this 12-year-old boy did not have to explain anything beyond her son has autism to the police officer.

[Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images]

Emergency Responder’s Autism Training: Sonoma County Joins The List Of Those Undergoing Training is an article from: The Inquisitr News

Publié par à
Libellés :

Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire

Inscription à : Publier les commentaires (Atom)