Just last week a disturbing arrest was reported in newspapers of a young boy diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder. Early one morning nineteen year old Reginald Latson sat on the front lawn of the local library in Stafford County, Virginia waiting for it to open. Some school kids apparently reported a suspicious black male, possibly with a gun, sitting by the library and soon enough Latson was approached by a police officer. When the officer asked Latson for his name he didn’t respond. The officer searched the young man and didn’t find a weapon but reportedly continued to press the boy until a struggled ensued. Latson was ultimately arrested, held in isolation without bail for 11 days, and was sentenced to 10 ½ years in prison for assaulting an officer. News reports suggest it is a potential case of racial profiling but what is painfully clear is that the judge didn’t understand enough to take into account Latson’s Asperger’s diagnosis.

We should acknowledge how far we’ve come in diversity training and special needs sensitivity. If we are to truly serve and protect, we still need to pursue greater acceptance and, frankly, just learn more about autism and all special populations.  

Police and first-responders are doing their best to treat people with special needs with dignity and care; There’s no doubt. It’s difficult though. The range of special needs that police officers may interact with is staggering. And when it comes to autism, the spectrum of behaviours that define the disorder is broad – from “high-functioning” people who have jobs and might be married with children yet who struggle to socialize, all the way to “low functioning” people unable to communicate and with unusual repetitious behaviours whose stress level can escalate quickly.

There are books and training courses teaching law enforcement officers to ‘recognize the signs of autism.’ On one hand recognition profiles are necessary. On the other hand they can also unintentionally perpetuate stereotypes. Since autism is a spectrum disorder it’s hard for anyone, even specialist doctors who diagnose, to instantly recognize all of the challenges of all people with autism. So should police be expected to do this?

The main idea I share with first-responders is to be cautious about stereotyped profiling - very much along the lines of what I discuss in Challenging the Myths of Autism (Harper Collins, 2011): For example, if you are holding beliefs that all people with autism are aggressive, or can't speak, or have mental retardation then you are likely to misjudge and misinterpret their behaviour. You may act in less than effective ways because people with autism aren’t all the same.

So, along with teaching officers to be able to identify the tell-tale signs of autism, here are three immediately useful strategies which can be used regardless of the degree of autism:

1) RECOGNIZE COMMUNICATION DISRODERS/ CHALLENGES:

When approaching a suspect, law enforcement officers use their voice and words to communicate important instructions, yet many people with autism are not able to understand either the words or the meaning of voice tone. They may not respond appropriately to simply questions like “What is your name?” or “Stop right there.” It would be false to conclude they are ignoring the command or resisting arrest.

People with autism may not always have outward signs or immediately obvious behaviours that identify them as having a communication disorder. This is a ‘hidden disability’ unless you know how to recognize it. Getting louder isn’t the answer, and using a more aggressive tone won’t help either. Your first step is to not assume that when a person isn’t responding to your verbal communications it’s necessarily because they are ignoring you.

Signs that an autistic individual may have a communication challenge:

• they don’t turn their head toward the verbal command
• they show absolutely no behavioural response to the command

In this situation, it is best to:

• Stop trying to have a conversation with them. If they aren’t responding to simple questions like “What’s your name”, more complex dialogue isn’t going to help.
• Try to establish your body position to ensure the suspect can see you before giving further verbal commands
• Try smiling. Non-verbal communicators often rely on non-verbal communication cues and behaviour to understand. They are more likely to pay attention and try to cooperate with a friendly-looking person than a serious or angry one.
• Provide one clear instruction like “Please sit down” and look for any small behavioural signs, rather than a verbal response, that they are trying to comply.
• Use animated / exaggerated physical gestures, like pointing to where you want them to stand, which they may understand better than verbal commands.

2) USE APPROACH TECHNIQUES TO GAIN TRUST VS TRIGGER ‘STARTLE’

Especially if you suspect a communication challenge, there is a higher possibility of triggering a startle-and-defense (flight or fight) response – running away, screaming, aggression - if you:

• Approach too quickly
• Don’t establish line-of-sight visual acknowledgment (make sure they see you)
• Sound angry (voice tone)
• Try to establish physical touch/ control before they are ready

In this situation it is best to:

• Be patient. If there is no imminent danger, wait longer than usual for the suspect to take the first steps toward you i.e., for them to make the first steps to cooperate. When they perceive they are in control, they will cooperate much more readily
• Lower your body position. Especially for younger children, it will often be better to lower yourself, drop to one knee, to avoid towering over the child when giving commands or asking them to approach you. The chances of triggering aggression from this position are actually greatly reduced.
• Use your voice tone like a front-line tool to communicate ‘security’ and ‘friendliness.’ People with autism will be much more likely to pay attention and not get defensive (ie stop listening) when they hear the tone that you are sincerely trying to help. Raising your voice volume will almost always trigger more startle and less cooperation.
• Provide more reassuring statements than interrogating questions. The statements “You’re okay” and “I’m going to help you” will gain trust quickly versus rapid fire questions like “What’s your name” and “what are you doing here?” You first objective with a person with autism is to establish rapport and (paying) attention before you can assume to begin questioning.

3) RECOGNIZE SUBTLE AND ESCALATING SIGNS OF (DIS)STRESS

For many people with autism, especially non-verbal children, it is common that their level of stress (and consequent pre-signs of aggression), escalate rapidly. However, as most parents of these children will explain, there are some tell-tale signs you can learn to identify this early on:

• Tension in the extremities (fingers, arms, legs), clenched or extended
• Increase in hyper-activity (jumping, pacing, vocalizations)
• Increase in unusual stereotyped autistic behaviours (hand flapping, walking on toes, flicking fingers in front of face, screeching, self-talk)

Important Note: While many of these same behaviours if exhibited by a non-autistic suspect might indicate aggression and non-compliance, for people with autism these behaviours may be self-regulating; They may be the familiar and comforting behaviours the child or adult does to cope with the mounting stress of not understanding the situation, in the same way hat some of us pace back and forth when we have a difficult decision to make.

This is usually not an appropriate time to escalate your command and control techniques of shouting commands or physically arresting. Instead, in this situation it is best to:

• Give the autistic person some room to jump or hand flap for up to one or two minutes. It is best to not add to their distress with more questions or verbal information. Silence can be a powerful tool to gain rapport and to de-escalate the stress.
• Maintain your position but don’t advance i.e. don’t assume you have to immediately control or stop these behaviours, if they aren’t dangerous, they may be necessary for the person to calm down.
• Again, use a calming voice to de-escalate tension and communicate statements that “You are safe with me” and “You can relax and listen with me”

By practicing and using these strategies, you can reduce risk situations. By spending some time with a person with autism outside of an arrest situation, you will begin to  demystify autism as a strange "other" disorder.

Police have to be able to identify the stereotyped signs of autism, but perhaps just as importantly they can apply this set of skills to gain rapport and cooperation quickly, skills which they can use not only with people with autism but also with other mental and behavioural disorders.

Jonathan Alderson, Ed.M.
Autism Treatment Specialist
Founder, Intensive Multi-Treatment Intervention™
www.IMTI.ca

Recommended reading:
Challenging the Myths of Autism, Jonathan Alderson (Harper Collins, 2011)
Dennis Debbaudt’s First responder training videos and materials   www.autismriskmanagement.com

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. It is one of three recognized disorders in the autism spectrum (ASDs), the other two being Asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (commonly abbreviated as PDD-NOS), which is diagnosed when the full set of criteria for autism or Asperger syndrome are not met.

Autism has a strong genetic basis, although the genetics of autism are complex and it is unclear whether ASD is explained more by rare mutations, or by rare combinations of common genetic variants. In rare cases, autism is strongly associated with agents that cause birth defects. Controversies surround other proposed environmental causes, such as heavy metals, pesticides or childhood vaccines; the vaccine hypotheses are biologically implausible and lack convincing scientific evidence. The prevalence of autism is about 1–2 per 1,000 people worldwide; however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports approximately 9 per 1,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with ASD. The number of people diagnosed with autism has increased dramatically since the 1980s, partly due to changes in diagnostic practice; the question of whether actual prevalence has increased is unresolved.

Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life. The signs usually develop gradually, but some autistic children first develop more normally and then regress. Early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help autistic children gain self-care, social, and communication skills. Although there is no known cure, there have been reported cases of children who recovered. Not many children with autism live independently after reaching adulthood, though some become successful. An autistic culture has developed, with some individuals seeking a cure and others believing autism should be accepted as a difference and not treated as a disorder.

Autism Quiz

Are you wondering whether a child you know may have Autism or Asperger's Syndrome? Take this simple little quiz.

If you answer yes to 3 or more of these questions, have them checked out by a professional.

1. Do they spin objects around and around?
2. Is their speech repetitive, like an echo?
3. Are they attracted to shows like Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy?
4. Do they like to watch the same movie over and over again?
5. Are they fascinated with numbers and letters?
6. Do they seem unafraid of things that they should be afraid of?
7. Is it hard for them to make eye contact?
8. Do they shun away from being touched?
9. Do they like to line objects in a row?
10. Do they lack the ability to play "with" other children?

Visit AutismToday.com to learn more!