Police officers and firefighters are trained to save lives, but handling children with autism can require additional expertise.
More than 60 Montgomery County public safety officers recently participated in a training program to learn about autism and the difficulties it poses when lives are on the line.
Capt. Bill Cannata from the Westwood, Mass., Fire Department instructed officers on what to do when an autistic child is involved in a life-threatening situation.
“People with autism react to emergency situations in different ways,” said Cannata, who has an autistic son himself. “They can’t process and may not understand what’s expected of them. Their reactions could be different that what the typical person would do. They’ll do the opposite of what you think.”
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Officers learned how to handle autistic children involved in automobile accidents, fires and other emergency rescue situations. Cannata also played video clips of people with varying levels of autism to demonstrate its different traits. Some autistic people are nonverbal and do not like to be touched, while others respond to being comforted and are very communicative, he said.
“From a law enforcement perspective it’s very important for them to know how to deal with,” said Assistant Chief Scott Graham with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service. “They may make a decision to detain or arrest or control someone with autism, which may exacerbate the problem instead of solving it.”
And from a medical perspective, knowing how to differentiate an incapacitated person from a person with autism is a critical skill, he said. The program is supported through a grant from the Department of Homeland Security, which enabled Cannata to provide the instruction for free.
A few of the officers in attendance have children who are autistic.
“We always look for any kind of training that will benefit public safety providers and that will help us help our community, whether its autism or anything like that,” Graham said.
