Resource kits raise awareness of high risk of drowning for children with autism

根据2017年12月损伤流行病学上发表的研究，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童死于溺水的可能性是溺水的160倍。beplay苹果手机能用吗这就是为什么休斯敦德克萨斯大学健康科学中心Cizik护理学院的护理医生（DNP）学生Heather McCrackin（DNP）的学生正在启动自闭症预防资源工具包。

该套件为儿童提供了自闭症儿童的临床医生和父母，这些基于自闭症的专业教育工具，干预措施和社区资源可降低溺水的风险。

The idea for the kit came from her personal experience. In May of 2019, McCrackin’s now 4-year-old daughter, Kimber, was diagnosed with ASD. Nearly three years before Kimber’s diagnosis, a friend lost her 18-month-old son in a drowning accident and that was the first time McCrackin saw the startling statistics surrounding drowning and children with autism.

McCrackin said that children with autism may be attracted to water by the way light reflects off it, while the pressure caused by the water may feel like a weighted blanket to them, creating a comforting sensation.

According to the National Autism Association, accidental drowning accounts for 91% of deaths reported in children with ASD who are 14 years old and younger. That was the statistic that came back to McCrackin when she got her daughter’s diagnosis. “My heart sank because how do I protect my child?” said McCrackin, whose oldest daughter is a competitive swimmer. “We are around water all the time.”

McCrackin said it wasn’t easy finding a place that advertised active adaptive swim lessons, but eventually found a place that could teach her daughter swim lessons, set physical and behavioral barriers to water, and notified others that she is at higher risk of drowning.

As she started researching for her DNP quality improvement project, McCrackin realized there was a dearth of information on water safety for parents and care providers of children with autism.

“After getting home one night from her swim lessons, I realized what I could do for my project,” she said. “I knew other patients were going through the same things.”

The solution was the resource kit. For clinicians, it focuses on the training needed to talk to parents about drowning prevention strategies and how to individualize treatment plans for their children.

“Clinicians have program treatment plans for safety risks and elopement, or wandering from caregivers, but don’t go into what happens if a child falls into a pond, for example — the survival part,” she said.

The kit for parents provides a list of critical resources including physical barriers such as stop signs, pool nets, pool fences, and water surface sensors. There is information on foundations that provide swim lesson scholarships for families, GPS tracker systems, law enforcement programs, and community partners who provide CPR training. The kit also includes a discount code for sensory-friendly goggles from a company that responded to McCrackin’s personal appeal.

当父母得知溺水统计数据时，他们常常会感到震惊。

“The parents can’t believe they didn’t know their child was in danger and they hadn’t taken preventive measures,” McCrackin said.

对于该项目，一旦父母收到麦克拉金（McCrackin）的套件，他们将与临床医生合作，使用其资源进行持续培训和护理。数据将每三个月通过调查收集一次，以评估进度。

McCrackin的项目将开始with a small group at a behavioral learning center in Spring, Texas, for children with special needs. Her goal is that by December of this year, 50% of families with children with autism who are receiving services at the center will be utilizing the resource, and will have water safety interventions.

“No matter what, the end game is to spread awareness and education to save the lives of children on the autism spectrum in the face of their greatest threat — drowning.”

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