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DistantThunder
Join Date: 7/31/2008
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7/13/2012 10:24:16 AM Autistic man survives weeks lost in Escalante desert
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54481019-78/lefever-bronson-river-escalante.html.csp
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Trackerdoc
Join Date: 3/15/2008
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7/13/2012 3:29:22 PM
an autistic man starved for human contact, now thats a little unusual. frogs for food, raw? ick. that is awesome for him to make it that long, autism or not.
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Rwhite
Join Date: 8/18/2012
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8/18/2012 9:37:05 AM
That's interesting because I have an autistic son who went missing here in Tennessee while I was in South Carolina but luckily he was found about six hours later
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Trackerdoc
Join Date: 3/15/2008
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8/21/2012 3:44:44 PM
i think autism is one of those diagnosis that carries such a wide variety of symptoms and cognitive abilities that it is easy to underestimate them. most of my autistic patients are pretty severe. most are in institutional settings and quite disabled. they manifest lots of ocd like behaviors with rituals and rigidity, many have abnormal gaits and athletically are in poor condition. many function in the metally retardedrange and run well below 70 on their I.Q.
but even with all of their problems, most would make it for many days. I havealways thought that they would not do well for long but the longer i know these boys, most of mine are boys, the more I realize they are survivors. My understanding is the odds of a severe autistic surviving in incliment weather is under 72 hours, but i find that leaves out many of my milder patients.
some of my patients are asbergers, some very mild on the autism spectrum. I think they would do well and their aversions and rituals would give way to drives of thirst and fear. some of mine would walk for days without stopping when they escape from a facility and steal and scavenge and cover vast amounts of territory.
Autism is so broad, and each child is unique. there is no question that they have a handicap in a survival situation, but you cant write them off.
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Rwhite
Join Date: 8/18/2012
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8/24/2012 5:02:53 PM
Trackerdoc1 would you have any suggestions for me as far as a bug out situation? My son is twelve now and he can not speak but he understands most simple instructions.
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Trackerdoc
Join Date: 3/15/2008
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8/26/2012 1:22:37 PM
thats an awesome question. what do you think will be your bigggest problem:
meds? do you have plenty.many areso expensive if they are needed.
lost proofing? does he wonder?
rituals and routine? is he gonna freak if his routine gets messed up?, diet, schedules, bedtime etc?
familiarity? does where you are bugging out too have any meaning for him?
does he need help for travel, like a sedative or motion sickness med?
how is he in nature? does he camp any? how about fourwheelers and horses?
medical issues? how is his gait and coordination? can he walk long distances, ride bike, fly?
remember many of these meds carry light sensativity, worsening heat and cold tolerance, some would beunsafe without blood levels being done regularly?
how attached is he to you, or is he so withdrawn any one could manage him?
does he need a certain flavor of food, color of liquid or anything like that?
is he a savant? anything that mightgive him an advantage? abot 1/3of these kids are capable of independant living.
does he live with you or at a group home?
doeshe go to school? daytreatment? those places will need special consideration for getting him.
how is hewith water? will you need to cross it?
how about gun noise? what will his response be?
if he gets lost, can he ask for help in a nonverbalway?
does he have identification, phone numbers, addresses and the like on his clothing and person?
how about fire? has he been arround it?
is he potty trained?
a fair number of kidsstarting at adolescence gain some oftheir lost abilities back. maybe30%. keep this in mind as you expose him to new things hemight rise to the occasion or suprise you.
also around adolescence we sometimes see the emregence of seizres. hopefully not.
does he need a helmet? has he slept in a car or tent yet?
do you have rehab available? Physical therapy?
this is just a brainstorm to start the discussions. shoot me back some of your thoughts.
great question!
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Trackerdoc
Join Date: 3/15/2008
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8/27/2012 10:49:52 AM
So one might consider a sit spot. If he is not outside much, getting him out with you for daily sits and progressively increasing you distance might be a good practice and the throw in some camping. Toilet ing outside would have the potential to stress a little guy out. Also remember, if you ate stressed he likely will respond to that. Getting yourself as prepared as possible by storing food, getting skills and then practicing those skills will go a long way even before you prep a bug out bag
So in the bug out bag I might consider putting some kind of headphones or an ipod also in the bug out bag I might put something that would help with any other kind of sensory stimulation. In the waiting room of my short and sweet that my hospital we routinely have children bring their PlayStation's and different kinds of gaming devices if that's a possibility for autistic child I think.
any thoughts on a speach board, like a portable board you might use to point at for those he doest interact real well with?
does he need any assistive devices like braces, wheelchar, cathetersetc, or is he pretty mobile?
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Rwhite
Join Date: 8/18/2012
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8/28/2012 7:21:29 PM
we like to go hiking all the time, and he doesn't use any medication at all or specialized equipment. he likes being around the fire when we do hotdogs and marshmallows. but as far as communication goes he is very limited and what he can communicate is very basic body language or leading you to something and he can write his name but he does like to carry his backpack so some form of I.D. in/on it? and as far as location goes short term is his grand parents so that wont be too big of a problem i hope, but he really doesnt like loud noises. he doesnt run away but he holds his ears and shies away. and he loves the water so our biggest problem with that is keeping him out of it.
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Rwhite
Join Date: 8/18/2012
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8/28/2012 7:35:48 PM
oh and he plays outside with his brothers and sister all the time. He loves being outside out of all of them he is the most surefooted of them all. My wife has pictures of him out on our little wooden swing set/jungle gym laying ontop of the connecting 4X4 board. But he has a big problem with crowds and noise and chaos in general. But i mean i don't like crowds either so we will most likely avoid them if possible.
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Trackerdoc
Join Date: 3/15/2008
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8/30/2012 9:55:25 PM
sounds like you have a wonderful boy. sorry for all the brainstormng stuff, but i was kinda limitted in time. well i guess i am again because it is midnight. How blessed you are that your boy can walk, participate and enjoy camping. you have covered most things that were major obsitcles to me. I would focus on familiarizing him with the route and people and get him some I.D. for sure that he is likly always to have on him. get hm familiar with others that might travel with you to grandmas and spend as much of that time camping and eating hotdogs as possible. if possible, begin to desensitize him to loud noises. some kids just wont tolerate it, but i think a gentle approach could be successfule with blanks and distant gun fire, little fireworks and the like.
do you haveany more specific problems you might forsee?
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