Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Muslimah Next Door

Home
Muslim
When Your Child Wanders

When Your Child Wanders

Last updated on: April 27, 2018 at 6:34 pm by Dilshad Ali

When Your Child Wanders 2018-04-27T18:34:17-04:00 Dilshad Ali

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image source: Pixabay

Editor’s Note – This is a guest post by Sabeeha Rehman

You are sitting in your living room when suddenly the front door bursts open and a young man barges into your home—a stranger.

How would you react?

Scream?

Confront him?

Pull out a gun?

Call the cops?

My son had just pulled up in his minivan in front of a house of a family they were visiting. In the car was his wife and his three children. As the five of them started disembarking—doors sliding, get little girl out of the car seat, close all doors. Then, one of them shrieked, “Where is Omar?”

He was gone.

Where?

“Omar! Omar!” They all started calling out.

“Laila, run to the corner—that way, Sofia, you run to the corner that way,” my son called out as he ran in a third direction.

“Omar, Omar … ”

No Omar.

He is going to get hit by a car.

Omar is 16. Omar has autism. Omar is nonverbal. Omar cannot handle loud sounds of cars honking. Omar cannot explain that he is lost.

“Omar! Omar … ”

Suddenly, the door of one of the houses opened and a man stepped out with Omar. “Is he yours?” the man called out. He explained that they were sitting in their living room, when the front door opened and in barged a teenaged boy.

“We are so sorry. He has autism … ”

“I know. I have a son with autism. I knew it as soon as I saw him.”

How often does that happen?

Anything could have happened to Omar in that house, but the man of the house knew not confront him or pull a gun. God was watching over Omar.

In shock and utter relief, they took Omar’s hand and walked to the house of the family they were visiting. As soon as they entered, Omar ran through the house and rushed into the bathroom.

So that is what it was. He had wanted to go to the bathroom. He couldn’t express himself. When riding in the car, he couldn’t say, “Mom, I want to go to the bathroom.” As soon as the car stopped, he had slid out and rushed into a house. And while bending over to unbuckle little girl out of the car seat, or perhaps attend to that ringing phone, no one noticed Omar slip out.

Anything could have happened.

I recalled the incident this morning, while sitting at the New York Police Academy, where Dennis Debbaudt was conducting a training of the police sergeants on handling children with autism. Our chapter, the National Autism Association New York Metro Chapter has been sponsoring this training session every year during Autism Awareness month, for many years now. The police are trained on how to recognize a person with autism; they wander and tend to gravitate to water, so look for a lost child in those places first; that it takes them 12-20 seconds to process a question, so be patient; they do not follow directions easily, so talk clearly; they react when touched, so handle with care; they react to loud noises and bright lights, so turn off the siren and strobe lights; handling hi-risk calls of aggressive behavior; handling those prone to seizures or dependent on medication; and more.

Years ago, we were at an interfaith iftar at Gracie Mansion when my husband Khalid noticed the then police commissioner, Raymond Kelly.

“I will wait until he is seated and then go talk to him.”

“About what?” I asked.

“About starting an autism sensitivity training program for police officers.”

Khalid had been trying to get through to the NYPD for months to propose this program. Once the guests took their seats, Khalid walked over to the commissioner’s table and introduced himself and his proposal. Ray Kelly took out his pen and a card from his breast pocket, and made a note.

“Someone will contact you tomorrow,” he said.

Just like that. Khalid proposed; and the Commissioner said ‘Yes’.

When leaving, he called out to Khalid above the crowd, “Doctor, I haven’t forgotten. Someone will call you.”

Someone did. The next morning. It led to our autism chapter’s meeting with NYPD, and within a few months, the first training session was launched. NYPD has taken it a step further and created its own training video on autism sensitivity training. Today when Dennis asked the attendees, “How many of you have had an encounter with a person with autism?” six officers raised their hands. When he had asked this question a few years ago, no hands went up. Why now? Because now they can recognize autism.

Omar wears a GPS device. Every morning, Khalid’s phone beeps and a message pops up: Omar has left home. A few minutes later: Omar has arrived in Moorestown High School. His GPS—Angel Sense—is connected to his parents’ and Khalid’s phone. It will alert us: Omar is at an undisclosed location. The map shows his location, and Mom or Dad can tell that he is on a school trip to Target, learning life skills. At night, we may get a message: Omar’s device needs to be charged.

So why didn’t the GPS alert the family that day—the day he bolted out of the car?

Because the device was sitting on his shelf at home. He was going to be in the car with them, then in the house they were visiting with them, then back in the car, with them; so they didn’t need it.

So, the highest authority took over and put him in a safe place.

About Sabeeha Rehman

Sabeeha Rehman is the author of the memoir, "Threading My Prayer Rug. One Woman’s Journey From Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim." You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

April 25, 2018

Compassion for (Disabled) Patients: The Unquantifiable Metric in Health Care

Next Post

April 30, 2018 The Parental Intimacy of Autism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Global Voice for Autism Autism Awareness Month 2016 Autism Awareness Month 2017 Autism Interlude Hajj and Eid ul Adha Jenin Autism Project Ramadan Three Questions Uncategorized WISE Global Conference

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet had a vision of God standing beside a destroyed altar?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Amos Joel Ezekiel Micah