A book for police officers who encounter autism and behaviours of autistic people. READ THIS POLICE!

After the absolutely DISGUSTING shooting of Linden Cameron by Salt Lake City police officers, I suggest all police officers be TRAINED PROPERLY in de-escalation of potential issues with Autistic persons. There is NEVER - NEVER - a reason to shoot a child 11 times in the back while he is running away in fear. The child had no weapon and was not a threat. I am also disgusted by the adults shaming this mother stating 'the police aren't for babysitting' and 'if she can't handle it she shouldn't have kids'. Clearly the people making these remarks have never dealt with an autistic child having a meltdown. 

This book is one to consider. Police should be held accountable for their actions like any other citizen of this country. It isn't enough that the 'law' in Utah was changed immediately because of this incident. This never should have happened if the policy had been 'de-escalate first, shoot as a last resort' rather than 'shoot first'. 

Autism and the Police Paperback – February 21, 2020 by Buchan (Author)

This is a practical guide for police officers and other first responders written by an autistic retired policeman, designed to demystify autistic behaviours and improve the treatment of autistic people caught up in the criminal justice system. Police officers and other emergency services are the first to arrive at the scene of an incident and it is vital they can recognise autistic behaviours and respond accordingly to avoid any escalation.

This book lays out how to identify whether someone could be autistic and how officers can interact with them effectively and sensitively. Based on the author's many years of experience as a police officer it covers common scenarios such as stop and search, restraint and transportation, interviews and detention. For each potential encounter the book provides strategies, examples and tips to assist police in interacting safely and fairly with autistic people. In addition to police interactions, the book explains how to best respond to and assist autistic people through the Criminal Justice System and beyond.

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‘Sesame Street’ Helping Kids With Autism Learn To Wear Face Masks

 ‘Sesame Street’ Helping Kids With Autism Learn To Wear Face Masks

"Sesame Street" muppet Julia, who has autism, is central to the online initiative "See Amazing in All Children." (Richard Termine/Sesame Workshop)

"Sesame Street" muppet Julia, who has autism, is central to the online initiative "See Amazing in All Children." (Richard Termine/Sesame Workshop)

With a collection of new materials, “Sesame Street” is working to help kids with autism adapt to wearing face masks and other realities of living through a pandemic.

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind “Sesame Street,” unveiled a series of videos this week featuring Julia, a 4-year-old muppet with autism, as she encounters the various ways that the world has changed as a result of COVID-19.

The videos show Julia going on a virtual playdate with Elmo, practicing wearing a face mask during a video call with her dad and learning to deal with changes as she visits the park for the first time in a long time.

In addition to the videos, Sesame Workshop is also offering articles and stories to help parents and caregivers support their kids on the spectrum as they deal with changes in routine.

“We know that children with autism and their families are experiencing unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that schedules, routines and guidelines can change with little warning,” said Jeanette Betancourt, senior vice president of U.S. social impact at Sesame Workshop. “The new resources are designed to help families manage unexpected circumstances, familiarize children with important new behaviors like wearing masks and incorporate practical strategies into their day-to-day lives — all with a little help from Julia.”

The content released this week is just the latest from Sesame Workshop designed to help children cope with the pandemic. This spring, the organization rolled out its “Caring for Each Other” initiative with resources to help families manage anxiety and establish new routines. At that time, they also offered coronavirus-related tips specifically for families of those with autism.

The autism materials are part of the broader “Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children” initiative, which launched in 2015 and includes a range of online videos and resources and a handful of “Sesame Street” episodes focused on Julia.

Article can be found HERE: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/09/23/sesame-street-helping-kids-with-autism-learn-to-wear-face-masks/29004/

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Advocacy group says police shooting of autistic teen reveals shortfalls in mental health crisis response

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A police shooting that wounded a 13-year-old autistic boy in Salt Lake City is revealing shortfalls in the way officers respond to a mental health crisis, an advocacy group said Wednesday, a part of policing that’s facing renewed scrutiny during nationwide protests over brutality by law enforcement.

Similar questions are being raised in Rochester, New York, following the death of a Black man whose brother called police about his unusual behavior shortly after a mental health evaluation. It comes as demonstrators have urged cities to “defund the police” and shift money to social services instead.

In Utah, the boy survived with serious injuries. He appears to be white based on a photo posted online by his mother, although police have not provided his race. His mother, Golda Barton, has said she called 911 on Friday night because he was having a breakdown and she needed help from a crisis-intervention officer.

The Salt Lake City officers who came were not specialists in crisis intervention but had some mental health training, and they ended up shooting the boy as he ran away because they believed he made threats involving a weapon, authorities said.

An officer trained in crisis response would have handled the situation differently, focusing on deescalation and avoiding shouting or using sirens, which can be disorienting, said Sherri Wittwer, board president of CIT Utah, a nonprofit that provides crisis intervention training for law enforcement.

“Someone who’s in a mental health crisis … may have different behaviors,” Wittwer said. “And that’s why we need to have officers who understand the different ways that can look.”

Some police departments even undergo training specifically on communicating with people with autism, a developmental disorder that can involve varying degrees of language and social impairment.

The Salt Lake Police Department has about three officers who are crisis-intervention specialists, but they don’t respond to every call involving mental health issues, said Detective Michael Ruff, a department spokesman. He stood by the department’s model, which includes giving every new recruit 40 hours of crisis-intervention training at its police academy.

“We’re very comfortable with the program we used and with the individuals who are teaching it,” he said. “There’s more than one way to be CIT trained.”

Ruff declined to say what tactics the officers used to deescalate the situation before shooting the boy. The department says it will cooperate with multiple investigations.

But for Wittwer, the case is an example of why the state needs a unified, consistent program. In 2016, Salt Lake City police opted out of the training her group provides.

“When people call for an officer, they’re in their most vulnerable state, and they need to have trust in who will be coming to their door,” she said.

The officers’ names, body-camera video and 911 call records have not been released.

The boy’s mother, meanwhile, told Salt Lake City’s KUTV that she informed police her son has autism, was unarmed and did not know how to regulate his behavior.

Barton hoped they would help deescalate the situation and calm him down. Instead, two officers who entered her home told her son to “get down on the ground” and shot him.

“He’s a small child,” Barton told the TV station. “Why didn’t you just tackle him? He’s a baby. He has mental issues.”

This article came from: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/advocacy-group-says-police-shooting-of-autistic-teen-reveals-shortfalls-in-mental-health-crisis-response

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Police shoot 13-year-old boy with autism several times after mother calls for help

 Police shoot 13-year-old boy with autism several times after mother calls for help

Linden Cameron was recovering in Utah hospital after suffering injuries to his shoulder, ankles, his intestines and his bladder

A 13-year-old boy with autism was shot several times by police officers who responded to his home in Salt Lake City after his mother called for help.

Linden Cameron was recovering in a Utah hospital, his mother said, after suffering injuries to his shoulder, both ankles, his intestines and his bladder.

Golda Barton told KUTV she called 911 to request a crisis intervention team because her son, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was having an episode caused by “bad separation anxiety” as his mother went to work for the first time in more than a year.

“I said, ‘He’s unarmed, he doesn’t have anything, he just gets mad and he starts yelling and screaming,’” she said. “He’s a kid, he’s trying to get attention, he doesn’t know how to regulate.”

She added: “They’re supposed to come out and be able to de-escalate a situation using the most minimal force possible.”

Instead, she said, two officers went through the front door of the home and in less than five minutes were yelling “get down on the ground” before firing several shots.

“He’s a small child,” she said. “Why didn’t you just tackle him? He’s a baby. He has mental issues.”

In a briefing on Sunday, Sgt Keith Horrocks of Salt Lake City police told reporters officers were responding to reports “a juvenile was having a mental episode” and thought Cameron “had made threats to some folks with a weapon”.

Police confirmed they did not find a weapon at the scene.

In a statement to the Salt Lake Tribune, Mayor Erin Mendenhall vowed the investigation would be quick.

“No matter the circumstances, what happened on Friday night is a tragedy, and I expect this investigation to be handled swiftly and transparently for the sake of everyone involved,” she said.

Across the US, killings of unarmed civilians by police, especially Americans of color, have raised alarm among community groups and stoked ongoing protests. Many say law enforcement responses to public health crises often put the mentally ill at risk.

Protests erupted in Rochester, New York, after body-camera video from March showed police responding to a call about a mental health episode mocking 29-year-old Daniel Prude and putting a hood on his head. Prude, who was Black, died of asphyxiation.

Demonstrators in Aurora, Colorado, have sought justice for 23-year-old Elijah McClain, a Black man who went into cardiac arrest shortly after a paramedic administered ketamine as police officers responded to a suspicious person report.

Body-camera footage contained some of McClain’s last words: “I’m an introvert. I’m just different. That’s all, I’m so sorry.”

As activists call for police resources to be reallocated toward public health initiatives, some cities have shifted emergency response strategies.

Regarding the incident in Salt Lake City, Neurodiverse Utah said in a statement: “Police were called because help was needed but instead more harm was done when officers from the SLPD expected a 13-year-old experiencing a mental health episode to act calmer and [more] collected than adult trained officers.”

Barton launched a fundraiser to cover her son’s medical bills. She described Cameron as a typical young boy who loves “video games, four wheeling and long-boarding”. She also demanded answers about why her son was not subdued.

“Why didn’t they Tase him? Why didn’t they shoot him with a rubber bullet? You are big police officers with massive amounts of resources. Come on. Give me a break.”

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Minnesota mother and autism advocate pens children’s book to help teachers and students with autism during COVID-19

Sheletta Brundidge was inspired by her 7-year-old daughter’s journey in the classroom.

Author: Annette Peagler

Published: 10:27 PM CDT September 4, 2020

Updated: 10:29 PM CDT September 4, 2020

 

As students across the country head back to school this semester is different and is forcing families to make big adjustments especially for children with special needs.  

However, a Minnesota mother of four has made it her mission to help.  Three of her children have autism and she authored children’s book, “Cameron Goes to School,” that shares the journey of her daughter as she heads to Kindergarten.  

The book is now being used across the country to help ease students on the autism spectrum fears and calm their anxieties.  

VIDEO FROM ARTICLE HERE.

“Children with special needs during this down time since Covid-19 happened did not get a lot of the services they normally get, so a lot of us who have children with special needs saw a regression,” said Sheletta Brundidge, author of Cameron Goes to School.” 

Brundidge, an autism advocate saw a need in communities across the nation that could help thousands of families.  She was inspired by her 7-year-old daughter, Cameron’s personal journey.  

“My daughter was coming home from the library with books with no little black girls on them,” Brundidge said.  “And so one day she said mommy I want white skin like all my friends.  And I said what?  And so I looked around and she was reading this book and everybody was white and they had blonde hair.”  

Brundidge took the time with her daughter to create the book.  

“When I looked around, I realized we’ve got all these books about autism for adults, but nobody is educating children,” Brundidge explained.  “One of the things that really concerned her was her friends.  A lot of her friends because at the time she couldn’t talk they thought she was mean and so they would try to talk to her, try to be her friend.  She was socially awkward because she had anxiety related to her autism.” 

Brundidge initially ordered 1,000 books, but the demand kept growing.  

AUTISM AWARENESS - At 10, I speak to a Minnesota mother of 4 & 3 of her children have autism. She penned this book with the help of her daughter Cameron after she was having trouble at school fitting in. The book is now being used in curriculum across the country. @LocalMemphis pic.twitter.com/Z5CVzdxnHt

— Annette E. Peagler (@Local24Annette) September 5, 2020

“Then I started getting direct messages on Facebook and Twitter from teachers across the country who say we are using your book,” Brundidge said.  

One of those teachers was Laura Denham.  

“One of my students who is a 3rd grader kept pointing to Cameron on the front of the book and calling her by his sisters name because I’m not sure that he frequently sees books with children who look like him,” Denham a Paraprofessional at Kaywood Elementary School said.  

That’s one of the many reasons Brundidge is advocating this book.  She says it can help bridge a gap during these unprecedented times.  

“This book is not only a love letter to black girls with autism, but it also educates their classmates.”  

The book can be found on Amazon, Walmart and Barnes and Noble.  Click here for pricing.

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Opinion: How Classroom Closures Hurt Students With Special Needs

Opinion: How Classroom Closures Hurt Students With Special Needs  

Back-to-school season is always a stressful time for families. That’s especially true this year because many students aren’t going back at all.

Due to COVID-19, classrooms around the country are closed, burdening working families and hurting students, especially those with disabilities.

Opinion

Terry Wilcox
InsideSources.com 

Classroom closures contradict the best science. The scientific community, including the Centers for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatricsand the National Academy of Sciences — even top doc Dr. Anthony Fauci — support reopening classrooms.

That’s because the risks of reopening are rare, yet the consequences of closures are grave. Fewer children have died this year from COVID-19 than from the flu (and it’s been a mild flu season). The CDC estimates that children have just a one in a million chance of dying of this disease.

When kids do contract COVID-19, they tend not to get severe cases. “The preponderance of evidence,” writes the AAP, “indicates that children and adolescents are less likely to be symptomatic and less likely to have severe disease resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

Child transmission, according to emerging scientific data, is also relatively rare. School reopenings in the rest of the world, including in Europe this spring, haven’t caused disease outbreaks. Neither have daycares in the United States. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that children produce less of an enzyme necessary for the virus to bond. Some scientists believe children act as “a brake” on infections.

Meanwhile, the pedagogical, psychological and physiological side effects of closed classrooms are well-documented. According to a study by McKinsey, Hispanic, Black and low-income students will respectively lose 9.2, 10.3 and 12.4 months of learning if in-person schooling doesn’t resume until January 2021. For many children, schools are the only place to get a nutritious meal and exercise; nearly half of students nationwide rely on school for free or reduced-price school lunches.

There Are Nearly 7 Million Disabled Students in the Country

Children with special needs are perhaps the biggest victims of school closures. Virtual learning is hard for all kids (and parents), but especially for those with disabilities. According to a Pew Research study, this population has a far lower comfort level with technology.

There are nearly 7 million disabled students in the country, one-sixth of national public school enrollment. ADHD, autism and learning disabilities are the most common conditions, which are ameliorated by consistent and attentive in-person instruction, including personalized behavioral therapies. Many special needs children also receive afternoon in-school training sessions. Such services for this vulnerable population have largely ended along with classroom learning.

Specialized school therapies can be hard to implement at home.

Schools also offer outlets for the extra energy that those with ADHD and autism often have. Parents, trying to balance work amid playground closures, usually can’t compensate.

According to Jackie Baker, an autism therapist in New York City, it could take at least a year to remedy maladaptive behaviors that disabled children have picked up due to extended breaks from school. Routines and consistency are particularly necessary for special education students because they can struggle with organization and time management.

Parents, especially mothers, who do the bulk of the childcare, are also affected. Balancing work and parenting has always been hard. Now classroom closures are forcing some mothers to choose between their careers and their kids. This dilemma has economic implications, slowing the national recovery from this pandemic.

Kids shouldn’t be another casualty of COVID-19. Yet by refuting science and refusing to reopen classrooms, school districts across the country are turning their backs on students, particularly the most vulnerable.

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Special Education Advocate Says Coronavirus And Online Learning Made ‘A Complex Issue Even More Complicated’

Special Education Advocate Says Coronavirus And Online Learning Made ‘A Complex Issue Even More Complicated’

Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

Desks at Denver’s South High School, Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

When Melanie’s two sons began school this week, they did it from home. She and her husband asked their kids if they wanted to go to classes in-person.

“They said, ‘There’s no way I could wear a mask all day,’” Melanie said.

Her fifth-grader is on the autism spectrum and is sensitive to textures. Her third-grader has ADHD and deals with impulsivity. CPR News is only using Melanie’s first name to protect her family’s privacy.

She watched her oldest son as he had his first physical therapy since the pandemic began in their backyard. He was, of course, wearing a mask.

“In a matter of 10-minutes, it was on his nose. It was on the top of his head. He was playing with it. He was rolling around. He couldn't handle it,” she said. 

Still, it was a hard decision to stay home because it means that Melanie will not return to work this fall, and they will live on her husband’s income. 

She calls it “survival mode,” and says they’re able to do that because.

“We own our home. So we're lucky, and we're in a situation where our payment is very low, and we have taken a refinance. We downsize. There's no vacations, but we're making it a staycation,” she said.

Melanie’s family has been weighing their education options since last spring. When the pandemic hit, schools had mere weeks to transition to remote learning. That was tough for every learning situation, and it made some special education services nearly impossible to provide. 

She said that when her fifth-grader’s speech therapy moved online in March, it was just “a flyer put up on a Google Class going over [the] T-H [sounds] and a couple other things. I just don't feel that was the same. I was advocating to see if I can get at least a one-to-one speech instruction, but I was informed the district had not approved that at the time.”

Jeannine Durst advocates for students with special education needs through the nonprofit ARC of Adams County.

Even before the novel coronavirus, she says that schools and families struggled to meet special education needs “because it's above and beyond general education. The federal government promised to fund a lot of the excess costs. They never have been able to fund it completely. So it's always been a struggle. And then when you throw in COVID and students a lot of times needing one-on-one support that can't be provided remotely.”

She said much of the burden fell on parents and guardians, “and sometimes parents don't feel equipped or are not equipped. Sometimes kids don't like working with their parents.”

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), students with intellectual or developmental disabilities are legally entitled to free and appropriate education. For students who receive special education services, that’s outlined in an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and sometimes includes assistance, like a one-to-one aide. 

The Colorado Department of Education has now issued guidance for IDEA-eligible students. That includes the recommendation that schools establish contingency learning plans for students with IEPs that describe how a school will continue to provide an appropriate education for students if the pandemic restricts or changes the services that they receive.

Now that districts have had the summer to prepare, Durst is optimistic that schools will be able to incorporate many students’ IEPs, whether they are learning remotely or in-person. But some services, like physical therapy, occupational therapy or speech therapy, could still be a challenge. She also worries that for students learning remotely, time in front of a screen could be tough. 

“Especially kids on the [autism] spectrum, they may not be able to relate to the screen,” Durst said. “I have another family whose child, once he is doing something on the screen, he does not want to get off. Once he's off, he has a meltdown for a very long time.” 

Even students who have IEPs are starting classes in-person this fall, Durst recommends families ask schools if they have a plan for implementing services if they have to go to remote learning because of a COVID-19 outbreak. 

“If they say, ‘No, we don't think your child needs a plan,’ then they're basically saying, we can implement their services just as they are already," she said. "And then what I would recommend is the family say, ‘OK, great. Can you give me that in writing?’”

Both of Melanie’s sons begin online school this week. She’s sympathetic that the situation is overwhelming for teachers and schools, and she plans to advocate for her sons to make sure their IEP goals are met.

“There’s a lot of emotions with COVID,” she said. “So I’m just going to stay in communication and be supportive and make sure we’re all the same team.”

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