"Another little boy with autism has drowned"

Not long after searches for two missing boys with autism in Central Florida ended tragically in November 2024, Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood found himself addressing news cameras once again, unable to hide his anguish. 

“Here we are again a week later, and another little boy with autism has drowned,” said Sheriff Chitwood, telling reporters at a Nov. 26 news conference that a third missing boy, a 7-year-old, had just been recovered from a lake. “I don’t have the answers – or any of us have the answers – of how we can prevent it from happening to another family. But together, we’ve got to solve this.”

In the first November incident in Kissimmee, a 5-year-old boy was playing at a park specifically designed for children on the autism spectrum, when he slipped through a gate while his dad was tending to his brother, also on the spectrum. A few days later, a 4-year-old boy bolted from a park in Ormond Beach when his dad was playing with him and his two brothers, all under five. Now, a 7-year-old Deltona boy who had just gotten home after going out for pizza with his family opened the car door and took off running, the sheriff said. They darted away “lightning quick” for water and drowned.

The three Central Florida boys were part of a record 82 fatalities last year of children with autism who wandered. Nearly all – 75 – drowned in lakes, ponds, pools and drainage ditches, while others were killed wandering into traffic or from hypothermia, according to Lori Mcllwain, co-founder of the National Autism Association (NAA), which tracks wandering cases.

“Drownings essentially doubled last year from each of the three previous years with no obvious reason why,” said McIlwain. “It’s essential that families and communities stay on high alert and search nearby water immediately if a child with autism is missing.”  

NAA chart tracking fatalities by year.

There were a record 82 fatalities by drowning last year. (Charts courtesy of NAA)

More than half of children on the autism spectrum will wander, or elope, from safe environments, and are often drawn to bodies of water, according to the NAA. For these children, water can silence overwhelming stimuli, act as a way to mute noise, commotion or bright lights and be soothing and stimulating. Despite not knowing how to swim, they often exhibit no fear, even entering frigid water.

Swimming lessons can help but aren’t always the answer. There aren’t enough specially trained instructors, the cost can be prohibitive and some parents have reported unsuccessful attempts to complete swimming lessons, McIIwain said.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) offers training for law enforcement and has devised special search protocols to help find missing children with autism, according to John Bischoff, who oversees NCMEC’s Missing Children Division.

Despite the spike in fatalities, Mcllwain believes the number may be much higher because the autism connection is not always made when a child drowns or is hit by a car. So far this year, there have already been 10 fatalities, with the number likely to accelerate with the arrival of warmer weather and vacations in unfamiliar places. 

NAA tracked monthly fatalities in 2024. (Chart courtesy of NAA)

“These incidents can happen in a split second despite the best efforts of parents to keep their children safe,” said NCMEC’s Bischoff. “Some families go to great lengths to get immediate alerts if their kids wander – installing special window and door alarms, cameras, tracking devices.”

One family, whose home was fitted with alarms, unlocked their doggie door to let their dogs go in and out while their child took a nap. In a matter of minutes, cameras mounted inside the home showed the 2-year-old had climbed out of bed, crawled through the doggie door to the family’s pool and drowned.

In Volusia, Sheriff Chitwood has been a leader in providing mandatory training to his officers for wandering incidents and proactively looking for ways to protect these vulnerable children. Families can register their children with the sheriff’s office, so if they wander, deputies can quickly access their unique behaviors and triggers and respond accordingly.

One of his deputies rescued a 5-year-old boy in August after his family was alerted by their special home alarm that he was missing and quickly called 911. Trained to search water first, the deputy found the boy clinging to a log in a pond. 

After the three boys drowned in November, the sheriff stepped up his efforts to find funding and forge partnerships, including with organizations that provide tracking devices to families who can’t afford them.

“I just know as a father and a grandfather what it’s like to stand over that little body when it’s pulled out of the water and know this didn’t have to happen,” said the sheriff. “We have to do something.”

NCMEC and the NAA offer information and resources for families with children who wander at: https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/autism and https://nationalautismassociation.org/big-red-safety-box/.