David Vasquez Update: Missing teen with autism found safe

Update: Missing teen with autism found safe | fox13now.com: "OREM, Utah – A teenage boy with autism who disappeared Tuesday night in Orem has been found safe.

Officials said 14-year-old David Vasquez had been last seen Tuesday at 8 p.m. at an LDS Church near 1100 S. and 200 E.

“I’m very grateful to God and thankful to everyone. Everyone, thank you for helping me,” David’s mother, Adrianna Segura, said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

Segura was in the process of posting missing fliers of her son all over Orem when she received the call that her son had been found wandering around University Mall.

“This is the greatest moment of my life, getting my son back, thank you so much,” Segura said."



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Body found in water during search for Leo Walker

Body found in water during search for Leo Walker: "LIVE OAK, Fla. -- Live Oak Police say they found a body in a pond near the area where volunteers and law enforcement are searching for missing 9-year-old Leo Walker.

Police Chief Buddy Williams could not confirm whether the body they found was Walker's. Police are expected to give another update on the search at 3 p.m. Friday.

Hundreds of volunteers came out to help search for the missing autistic boy. Thursday evening Williams said crews started pumping a nearby pond as part of search efforts. Friday, Williams said that's where they found the body."



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Rest in Peace: Avonte Oquendo

The Tragic Death Of Avonte Oquendo: How A School Lost A Vulnerable, Autistic Teenager - seattlepi.com

News broke Tuesday that human remains from the East River belong to an autistic 14-year-old who had been missing since October — and who vanished when his teachers should have been watching him. 

Avonte Oquendo slipped away from school after lunch on Oct. 4, even though he had a reputation for wandering away during transitions and anindividualized education plan that noted this tendency, his family's lawyer David Perecmanpreviously told Business Insider. 

There is still a lot we don't know about what happened to Oquendo after he was lost and how he ultimately died. There are no obvious signs of foul play, the New York Post reported. We do know the teen, who could not speak, was afraid of the water, and that his parents don't know how he ended up in the river, Perecman told NBC News. The Post also noted his remains were found with Fruit of the Loom underwear that was too large for Oquendo, leading his family's lawyer to speculate that somebody may have had the boy for a few days.

“Lost in Public” Video Helps Parents Keep Their Children Safe

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 19, 2013

For more information, contact:

Daphne Plump

Phone: (661) 478-6512

“Lost in Public” Video Helps Parents Keep Their Children Safe

 A newly-launched “Lost in Public” video, produced by the Autism Research Group, demonstrates how to use rules, role playing, and praise to teach children what to do if they get lost. 
LOS ANGELES (Nov. 21, 2013) – The Autism Research Group (ARG)  this week launched “Lost in Public,” a five-minute video that instructs children and guardians how to use rules, role playing, and praise to teach children what to do if they become lost in a public setting.

 ARG is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using science to help individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). “We study ways to improve the lives of children with autism. One way is by teaching them safety skills, such as what to do when they get lost. We also study the art of teaching – what works, what doesn’t,” says ARG Associate Scientist Ryan Bergstrom, M.A., BCBA.  

”Lost in Public” was filmed on the streets of Los Angeles with Bergstrom as the interviewer and instructor. Bergstrom asks random people what they would teach children to do if they got lost and how they would teach it. The unscripted responses are humorous anecdotes. However, Bergstrom says the video and its lesson are, by no means, a laughing matter.

 According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children^®, the first three hours are the most critical when trying to locate a missing child. The most recent study conducted by U.S. Department of Justice, National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview (2002) estimates that approximately 800,000 children younger than 18 were reported.

“Lost in Public” video provides an alternative to the commonly-used method of establishing a meeting spot, as a child who is lost and nervous might not be able to find the meeting spot. Instead, it teaches children to do 3 things if they can’t find their parent:

1. Yell “Mom!” or “Dad!”

2.  If that doesn’t work, find a store employee. (If a child can’t find an employee, you might tell him or her to look for a mom with kids.) 

3.  Inform the employee that you’re lost.  

Once the child has mastered the rules, families should practice with their child in real-world situations by role playing that they are lost. When the child is successful during the role playing, Bergstrom says it is important to reinforce correct responding with praise or a reward which “seals the deal.”

In 2012, ARG published a study in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis that evaluated how rules, role playing, and praise were effective in establishing help-seeking behaviors in children with autism.  “This video was created not just for families of children with autism but as a tool for all families to use in order to prevent an unfortunate and terrifying incident from occurring,” says Bergstrom.

“Lost in Public” can be viewed online at www.autismresearchgroup.org.

About Autism Research Group
Autism Research Group (ARG) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying, evaluating, and disseminating treatments that make a real, measurable difference in the lives of individuals on the autism spectrum and their families. ARG uses science to improve quality of life for people with autism spectrum disorders and the families who love them. For more information about Autism Research Group, visit: www.autismresearchgroup.org.

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Missing with Autism: Avonte Oquendo Update (2 Weeks)

Search for Missing Teen Avonte Oquendo Hits 2-Week Mark | NBC New York

Fourteen-year-old Avonte Oquendo remains missing two weeks after he skipped away from his Long Island City school, despite an intense search that utilized everything from volunteer posters to infrared cameras and loudspeakers blasting his mother's voice to find him. 

Police said Friday morning that there have been no new developments in the search for the boy, who is autistic and cannot speak for himself. They released a new photo of the striped polo shirt he was wearing when he was last seen leaving school Oct 4. 

60 children with autism in the dead past four years from wandering

Deaths of wandering autistic kids spark alarm

The 3-year-old girl wandered away from her grandmother’s home in Wareham, Mass., in mid-April. A frantic search began almost immediately, and within an hour little Alyvia Navarro was found unresponsive in a nearby pond. She was pronounced dead the next day. 

A month later, across the continent, a larger search unfolded over three days as hundreds of emergency service personnel and volunteers fanned out around Clearlake, Calif., looking for 9-year-old Mikaela Lynch after she vanished from her backyard. The outcome grimly echoed the Wareham search: A dive team found Mikaela’s body in a muddy creek. 

The two girls were the first of at least 14 children with autism known to have died this year after slipping away from their caregivers. All but one of them drowned, evidence of a fascination that many autistic children have with water. The body of the latest victim, 11-year-old Anthony Kuznia, was found Thursday in the Red River after a 24-hour search near his home in East Grand Forks, Minn. 

The tragic phenomenon goes by various names -- wandering, elopement, bolting -- and about half of autistic children are prone to it, according to research published last year in the journal Pediatrics. 

That would be a huge number. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated last year that 1 in 88 children are affected by autism, and a federal survey this year pegged the prevalence rate at one of every 50 schoolchildren -- more than 1 million children in all.
Wandering has led to the deaths of more than 60 children in the past four years, and the fear of it can make daily life a harrowing, never-let-your-guard-down challenge for parents.

Missing with Autism: Terry Dewayne Smith Jr (MENIFEE, Calif)

10News - Report: Remains found in home of Terry Dewayne Smith Jr.: Autistic boy missing for days - 10News.com - US/World News

MENIFEE, Calif. - Remains have been found at the Menifee home of an 11-year-old boy with autism who went missing Saturday, ABC affiliate KABC reported.
Investigators are working to determine if the remains are human.

Terry Dewayne Smith Jr. disappeared from his family's home in the 3300 block of Helen Lane Saturday between 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. 

The 11-year-old boy was initially said to have been last seen in his brother's room Saturday night. On Wednesday, however, officials said his 16-year-old brother saw him following him to a nearby market. Once his brother realized Terry was following him, he told him to go home. Terry then disappeared. 

Crime tape blocked the street that led to the boy's family home as the investigation continued Wednesday.

Autism IS Deadly - RIP Michael Kingsbury (7)

Michael Kingsbury, Missing 7-Year-Old With Autism, Found Dead Near D.C. Home:

Police say he was found inside a locked car behind a short fence on private property just two apartment buildings down from where he lived. 

D.C. police and dozens of recruits went going door-to-door in the Trinidad neighborhood where Kingsbury was last seen around 9 a.m. Sunday. 

Michael's mother, Katrina Kingsbury, thanked the community Monday night for coming out to help with the search. 

Many who helped look for the little boy just can't imagine how they missed him. 

"We were there four times," said Gaston McVea, who was one of the dozens of people who helped search for Kingsbury after he disappeared. "That was our central location and somehow we missed this."

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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."

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Missing with Autism: Mikaela Lynch (Lake Co CA, Bay Area San Francisco)

Missing 9-year-old autistic girl in Lake County spotted on surveillance camera | abc7news.com

CLEARLAKE, Calif. (KGO) -- There is a new lead in the case of a missing San Francisco child who disappeared from her family's vacation home in Lake County on Sunday. Mikaela Lynch, 9, has a severe form of autism so severe she neither speaks nor responds.

Clearlake and rescue crews had hoped to get some good news and a happy ending by the end of Tuesday, but that has not happened yet. Instead, they found some new hope in the form of a photograph that came from a home video surveillance camera.

Amber Alert GPS Service Down?

Email from Amber Alert GPS Today.

Dear Valued Customer, 

We are experiencing a temporary delay in the delivery of location information resulting from server maintenance activities. We will have this issue resolved quickly and are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. We appreciate your patience. 

The Amber Alert GPS Technical Support Team 

--
Jon Choate
Amber Alert GPS
Technical Support
1-888-334-3958

11 Year Old with Autism Wanders, ends up on Interstate, is killed by SUV

Autistic boy, 11, dies after hit by SUV - Houston Chronicle

An 11-year-old boy who had autism died when he was hit by a sports utility vehicle as he tried to cross the Interstate 10 service road in west Houston Wednesday night.
...

The boy has special needs and was in the care of his father when he wandered away as the father was doing laundry, said Estella Olguin, spokeswoman for state Child Protective Services.

"He was being watched," Olguin said, "but he just wandered away. It's tragic."
...

More @ http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Autistic-boy-11-dies-after-hit-by-SUV-3919001.php

Missing with Autism: Jarrett Bortscher (Edmonton)

Missing Edmonton autistic teen found dead in North Saskatchewan River | Edmonton | News | Edmonton Sun


A missing autistic teen from Edmonton was found dead in the North Saskatchewan River.

Jarrett Bortscher, 18, went missing from his parent’s south Edmonton home Sunday evening. His family and Edmonton police asked for the public’s help finding him.

On Wednesday, after more than 60 hours since his disappearance, a Facebook group dedicated to the search announced Bortscher had been found, but not alive.

“Words cannot express the family’s loss,” said family friend Josie Thrasher. “Jarrett was a wonderful son and brother —he was dearly loved and will be forever missed.”

More @ http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/09/26/missing-edmonton-autistic-teen-found-dead-in-north-saskatchewan-river

Autistic girl, 5, drowns in Bradenton pond

Autistic girl, 5, drowns in Bradenton pond

The Manatee County Sheriff's Office dive team has recovered the body of a 5-year-old autistic girl who drowned in a pond Monday, authorities said. 

Several witnesses reported seeing the girl in a retention pond off the 4400 block of Ninth Avenue East, in the Braden River Lakes subdivision, about 1:30 p.m. 

About a dozen divers and other firefighters searched the pond, which is about 12 to 20 feet deep in its deepest parts. 

The child did not know how to swim. 

Police say she was at home with her father and grandmother when somehow she managed to wander out a sliding glass door. 

The house backs up to a retention pond.

UPDATED: Police find missing autistic boy uninjured » Redding Record Searchlight

UPDATED: Police find missing autistic boy uninjured » Redding Record Searchlight

Redding police found a missing autistic boy just after midnight this morning, nearly four hours after he was last seen near his residence in the area of Park Marina Drive and Athens Avenue.
Keanu Nell-Morgan, 11, was located by citizens as he walked east along the shoulder of Highway 44 near the Sacramento River, Cpl. Mike Woods said in a press release.

Autism Website Prioritizes Law Enforcement Issues | Virtual-Strategy Magazine

Autism Website Prioritizes Law Enforcement Issues | Virtual-Strategy Magazine

Autism After 16, a website on adult autism issues, has added a Police Officer to its writing team to help build dialogue between law enforcement personnel and families of autistic adults. Police Lieutenant Jerry Turning's first contribution focuses on dealing with a teen or adult who becomes a missing person. 

Roanoke, VA (PRWEB) May 15, 2012 

"It is unthinkable. It is every parent’s worst fear. For a special needs parent or caretaker the mere thought of it can be crippling. You let your guard down for a moment. You turn your attention away from your loved one for an instant. He is gone," states police officer, Jerry Turning. 

On more than one occasion, Turning has seen desperation in the eyes of a parent whose autistic son or daughter is missing. As a K9 handler, he has felt the almost unbearable burden of having a family’s entire world resting on his shoulders. And as the father of a son with autism, Turning has also felt the knee-buckling terror of losing his child. He knows that for typical families, the dangers of wandering start to subside as their children reach the age of 5 or 6 years old. But for many special needs parents and caretakers, the dangers remain throughout the teenage years and, often, well into adulthood. 

Turning, a police Lieutenant and a certified police K9 Handler and Trainer, is the newest contributor to Autism After 16, a website focusing on information and analysis of adult autism issues. His first article, “Surviving the Wandering Nightmare,” is intended to provide families with insight into working successfully with first responders in the event an autistic teen or adult goes missing. Turning will continue to write articles for Autism After 16 which focus on helping families and law enforcement personnel develop strong community support systems. 

“As more children with autism become adults, communities need to know how to incorporate them well,” says the website’s editor, Merope Pavlides. “It’s important that law enforcement and other emergency personnel understand autism, and that families have information regarding how to best work with them. We brought Jerry Turning on board to help develop what we believe is crucial dialogue. As a police officer and an autism parent, his writing provides a unique and important perspective.” 

Autism After 16 was developed to address issues facing the growing population of autistic adults and their families. In addition to articles like Turning’s on developing community supports, the website offers analysis of issues such as public school Transition services, employment, housing, and finances. 

"As children approach their 18th birthdays, families discover that thinking about how to help them has to change," notes publisher Peter Emch. "Legal rights change, available and appropriate services change, financing options change, time horizons should change … It’s a different world. Services are available but you have to know how to access them. Missteps can cost years or exclude a family from access to services altogether.” 

In addition, readers can exchange ideas and information on adult autism issues on the Autism After 16 Facebook page. 

For the original version on PRWeb visit:http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/5/prweb9507456.htm

Westborough Police investigate 4-year-old's drowning death - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News

Westborough Police investigate 4-year-old's drowning death - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News

WESTBOROUGH —
A 4-year-old boy, reported missing this afternoon, was discovered in a swimming pool at a Main Street apartment complex, Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said. Alexie Lepoer of 135 East Main St., Apt. R4 at Park Village West apartments was found in the murky water of the pool late in the afternoon. Rescue workers tried to resusitate the boy before he was taken to the UMass Medical Center in Worcester where he was pronounced dead. Westborough Police Chief Alan Gordon confirmed earlier this evening that the boy had drowned. The boy's family called Westborough Police shortly before 5 p.m. to report him missing. His body was found just after 5:30 p.m.
Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1310216123/Westborough-Police-investigate-possible-drowning#ixzz1urFNa6Tl

Autistic Child Disappears From Philadelphia School

Autistic Child Disappears From Philadelphia School

PHILADELPHIA - It sounds too extraordinary to be true, but it's exactly what happened: A child went to the bathroom, but never returned. 

It was an adventurous morning for the 8-year-old, but not for his dad.
Nadir Monroe, 8, asked his teacher at Alexander Wilson Elementary School in Southwest Philadelphia to go to the bathroom. But instead the boy walked out of the school, boarded a trolley and headed for busy Center City. No one in the school saw him. 

More @ http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/autistic-child-dissappears-from-phila.-school

Hannah Ross R.I.P.

Dive Teams Find Body of Missing 7-year-old Fort Gordon Girl | ABC 6 WJBF-TV

After hours of searching, dive teams found 7-year-old Hannah Ross dead in Soil Erosion Lake on Fort Gordon.By land, air, and water, deputies and soldiers spent hours searching for Ross, who was affected by autism. Her family says she got upset Saturday evening and then disappeared.

Missing with Autism: Ross Harrison (Bronx, New York City, NY)

Search Underway For Missing Bronx Boy With Autism - WPIX

NEW YORK (PIX11)—
According to reports, Ross Harrison ran out of his family's home on West 182nd Street as the school bus waited for him to board. Instead of getting on the bus, his mother said the teen ran down the block.
The boy reportedly was complaining about being picked on and fled in an attempt to avoid further bullying.
More @ http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-search-for-brooklyn-boy-with-autism,0,4309826.story

A massive search was underway Thursday for a 13-year-old boy with autismfrom the Bronx, who hasn't been seen since Tuesday morning.