News and Knowledge

Many families expect an increased need for safety planning during the summer, when their autistic kids’ routines are disrupted, and they may encounter unfamiliar environments, people, and situations. Additionally, time off school gives kids an opportunity to learn and practice safety skills in their community. OAR’s Life Journey Through Autism: A Guide to Safety helps parents create and execute family, school, and crisis safety plans to address these needs and opportunities year-round.

Autism presents a range of safety challenges across the lifespan, whether it’s wandering incidents in childhood, cyber-bullying during adolescence, or inappropriate workplace interactions in older adulthood. Our Guide to Safety helps parents prepare for these and many other safety issues. The guide offers practical strategies for caregivers and first responders to manage risk and includes action plans to address problems head-on. The guide also contains tools for parents that can be readily used to communicate with first responders, teach kids critical safety skills, develop a safety network, and more.

A Guide to Safety is the perfect resource for homes, classrooms, fire and police departments, autism organizations, and libraries. We encourage you to order your copy of the guide, which is available at no cost as a paperback copy or as a PDF download. If you know of any parent support groups, conferences, or workshops that may benefit from this resource and would like to request a bulk order, please contact us at programs@researchautism.org.