ANOTHER: Rest in Peace: Owen Black

BREAKING: Missing autistic boy found dead in water off Perdido Key | Pensacola News Journal | pnj.com: "An 8-year-old autistic boy missing since Friday on Perdido Key has been found dead in the water, authorities on the scene confirm.

Owen Black, who was visiting from Louisiana, was found by someone on the beach shortly after 1 p.m. in the water in the Gulf of Mexico behind Shipwatch Surf & Yacht Club on Perdido Key Drive, less than a half a mile away from where he was last seen, authorities said.

He likely drowned, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said, though the Medical Examiner’s Office has yet to perform an autopsy."

'via Blog this'

Rest in Peace, Mikaela Lynch. Angel replaces Autism as A-word

I was so hoping this would turn out OK, but like so many before, that was not the case.
Missing S.F. autistic girl found dead - SFGate

Missing with Autism: Geoffrey Reffitt (BOYD COUNTY, Ky.)

Teen with Autism Missing in Boyd County, Emergency Officials Searching

BOYD COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) -- Emergency workers are searching for a 14-year-old boy with Autism that went missing Thursday morning.

According to Boyd County 911 Dispatchers, Geoffrey Reffitt was last seen crossing US Route 60 in the Summit area about 8 a.m. Thursday morning.

The boy ran from his home on Taylor Drive, which is in the Summit area.

Reffitt is 5'9" and weighs approximately 225 pounds. He is wearing a red/black Hilfiger pullover, gray shorts with skulls and flip-flops.

Emergency officials have set up a command post at the Marathon gas station at the intersection of Mead Springer Road and US Route 60.

Missing with Autism: Armahn Parrish (16) Los Angeles

Public’s Help Sought In Finding Missing Teen With Autism « CBS Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a missing teen with autism.

Armahn Parrish was last seen Monday around 1 p.m. with his mother at a Big Lots shopping center in the 600 block of South Hill Street, Los Angeles police said.

“Parrish was allowed go to the male restroom alone while his mother went to the female restroom. When his mother exited the restroom, she could not locate her son,” officials said in a statement.

Police responded to the shopping center, but were unable to find the 14-year-old boy.

Parrish has wandered off in the past, according to his mother. He is interested in sports and likes to visit local parks, she added.

Parrish is described as a Black male with dark hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion, police said. He is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 168 pounds.

He was last seen wearing a grey t-shirt, gray shorts, black Fedora hat, and black tennis shoes.

Anyone with information of Parrish’s whereabouts should contact the LAPD’s Newton Division at (323) 846-6576.

*** UPDATE *** Missing with Autism: Kaymania Serenity Catta (Hampton, VA)

Yet another found drowned. Sadly, all too common.

Police search for 6-year-old missing Hampton girl - dailypress.com

9:50 a.m. UPDATE: State Police have confirmed that the body found Thursday morning in a lake off Westview Drive in Hampton is that of Kaymania Serenity Catta, a 6-year-old girl who was reported missing Wednesday afternoon.

The body was found at approximately 7:45 a.m., about two blocks from the girl's home. The body was recovered close to shore in water about 8 feet deep.

Missing with Autism: John Burton Jr. (Aurora, IN)

Search Resumes For Missing Autistic Boy - Indiana News Story - WRTV Indianapolis

AURORA, Ind. -- A search resumes Monday in southeastern Indiana for a missing 7-year-old boy who is autistic.Police are trying to find John Burton Jr., who was last seen just before noon Sunday at his home in Aurora, in Dearborn County.Burton is nonverbal and is known to hide from people he thinks are looking for him.

leading cause of death among children with autism

'Eye on the door': Life with autism wandering - CNN.com

"We constantly have our eye on the door and on Michael, and it's a hard way to live," said Melanie Browne of Katy, Texas. "I think that's the hardest part of raising him, is just the wandering issue."

Autism groups are calling for greater awareness and study of what they call "wandering" or "elopement" behavior, referring to this habit of fleeing a place at any moment. Neither of those words accurately describes the phenomenon, but there's no better shorthand at the moment, says Dr. Paul Law, director of the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Interactive Autism Network.

Wandering is probably the leading cause of death among children with autism, Law said. Only limited data are available, but drowning seems most common among these fatalities.

Special autism alert sought for wandering

Special alert sought

A Kansas group wants law enforcement agencies to issue a special alert when someone with autism or a similar condition wanders away from a caretaker. The Mason Allen Medlam Foundation has gathered 11,000 signatures from people who support the creation of a Mason Alert, founder Sheila Mason said. Mason, of Colwich, Kan., is the mother of Mason Medlam, 5, who drowned in July after wandering from his home. She said she hopes to get 15,000 signatures and get an alert created. “The whole point is to keep these kids alive,” Medlam said. “Once they start to wander they are attracted to water.” Drowning is a leading cause of preventable death among autistic children, she said. There are 770,000 autistic children under age 18 in the United States. The petition can be signed at masonallenmedlamfoundation.com

Beth Martin, 31, mother of Savannah Martin, 7, a girl who drowned in Lawton in February

Read more: http://newsok.com/special-alert-sought-to-help-find-wandering-children-who-take-off/article/3555292#ixzz1IYpUDIYZ

Efforts underway to create missing person alert for special needs children

LEE COUNTY, Fla. - Ft. Myers mother Debbie Umphries knows just how quickly her son can vanish. It happened once before.

"My husband was getting ready to take [Tim] to the playground," Umphries said. "He heard the word 'playground' and was gone."

It happened in the blink of an eye. When his father's back was turned, Tim left the house. After a frantic search, police found the 11-year-old at his neighborhood playground.

Umphries says it was the most frightening half hour in her life.

For Sheila Medlam, a similar 17 minutes will always haunt her. That's how long her 5-year-old son, Mason, was missing from their Colwich, Kansas, home earlier this year. With law enforcement combing the area, Medlam was the one to find her son floating in a nearby pond.

Mason died in a hospital a few days later.

"We want to know that first responders have all the information they need so another mother doesn't have to lose her child like I had to lose mine," Medlam told WINK News during a recent trip to Pensacola, Florida.

In Pensacola, Medlam has found an ally in her efforts to create a nationwide alert system for missing children with disabilities. An officer within the city's police department helped create the "Take Me Home" program for children with autism. It's a registry that can help locate and identify a missing child with autism, currently available to numerous law enforcement agencies across the country.

More: http://www.winknews.com/mobile/mobile/article/Efforts-underway-to-create-missing-person-alert-for-special-needs-children

Endangered Persons Advisory

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Law enforcement officials statewide in Iowa will help spread the word about “endangered persons” who go missing.

The announcement Tuesday about a new Endangered Persons Advisory came via a news conferences in Des Moines, Council Bluffs and Cedar Rapids. And organizers say they’re taking a page from the well known Amber Alert program.

In an Amber Alert, law enforcement determines a child was abducted and is in serious danger. That determination can trigger the use of electronic highway signs, notices to the media and even text alerts to cell phones.

The Endangered Persons Advisory is targeted at seniors with medical conditions like dementia or Alzheimer’s who could be in physical danger if they wanted away from caretakers. Officials say it might also apply to children with certain conditions—such as Autism.

More

Missing with Autism: Armhan Parish (Los Angeles, CA)

UPDATE: FOUND

LOS ANGELES-- A family is searching for an autistic 12 year old boy who went missing Saturday from his home.

At around 11:50 a.m. Armhan Parish went to take out the trash outside his home in the 1100 block of Norton Avenue, according to LAPD, Wilshire Division officials.

Police believe Armhan wandered off sometime after that point, and are unsure where he could have gone.

His family is very concerned about his welfare.

The 12 year old is autistic, but described as being in good health.

Parish is described by officers as an African American boy with brown hair and brown eyes. He is about 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs about 110 pounds.

When he disappeared, the boy was wearing a red shirt and brown checkered shorts

Anyone with information on Parish's whereabouts is asked to call LAPD Wilshire Division Juvenile Detectives at (213) 473-0476 or 1-877-LAPD-24-7.

Source: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-missing-autistic-child,0,1698784

Mason Alert (Autism Amber Alert)

http://masonallenmedlamfoundation.webs.com/

Missing with Autism: Mason Alert

Mother Of Drowning Victim Pushes For New Child Alert System By Cayle Thompson | KAKE 10 ABC

Sheila Medlam surrounds herself with photos of her family. In almost every frame you can see the smiling face of her son, Mason. She cries quietly as she remembers the last night she fell asleep holding Mason’s hand.

“I don’t want any other mother to endure what I’m enduring,” she said. “It’s the worst thing that could ever happen.”

Mason, 5, drowned two weeks ago after wandering out of his family’s home near Colwich. He was found about 200 yards away in a neighbor’s pond. Despite extra locks on the doors and nearly constant supervision, Mason escaped by quietly pushing a fan out of his bedroom window and climbing out of the house.

“Everyday this happens,” Sheila said through tears. “Everyday an autistic child or adult goes missing.”

Experts say Mason’s autism made him more prone to wander away from home. Investigators say Mason’s death was a tragic accident.

All of this has led Sheila Medlam to push for change. She wants to start a new missing persons alert system, called a “Mason Alert.”

The alert would be similar to an Amber Alert, but would be tailored specifically to children and adults with developmental disabilities.

“If you’ve met an autistic child, they are absolutely fearless,” Sheila said. “They have no fear. And they are attracted to things you do not want them to be attracted to.”

Sheila knew her son was attracted to water. It’s why she went directly to the nearby pond after a frantic drive from work to look for Mason. Sheila pulled her own son from the water.

She says the rescue teams already on the scene didn’t know about Mason’s attraction to water, and the pond was hard to see from the road.

“You have to know where to look for them,” Sheila said. “And if police had that info, they would have known right where to look for my son.”

Sheila says the “Mason Alert” would give authorities crucial information the minute a call comes in regarding a missing special needs child. Photos would be included, along with a list of nearby hazards and the child’s interests. Search crews would also receive immediate updates on how the child responds to strangers, fear and stress.

“I think it’s such a positive response to such a tragic situation,” said Connie Erbert, Director of Autism Outreach for Heartspring in Northeast Wichita. “I would absolutely support this.”

Erbert says few families can understand the challenges in raising and caring for a special needs child unless they experience it first hand. What’s more, she says, many children never outgrow a mental disability.

Erbert says by taking into consideration special needs adults, the “Mason Alert” becomes particularly unique.

“We all have to work together for that person’s lifespan,” Erbert told KAKE News. “It’s not just from birth to 21, but for the lifespan.”

Sheila Medlam has taken her fight to the Internet, starting the Mason Allen Medlam Foundation. She hopes to collect enough signatures and support to send the Mason Alert to lawmakers.

“I’ll never stop,” she said. “If he saves one life… it will give some meaning to us losing him.”

More/Full Story: http://www.kake.com/news/headlines/100477609.html?ref=609

Related:

• Mason Allen Medlam
• Boy's family requests prayers to Kapaun
• MASON ALLEN MEDLAM FOUNDATION on Facebook