JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The headlines continued last week. This time it was Central Florida and the name was Charlie Newton. He’s the 7-year-old child who had autism and went missing. Charlie wandered away from his Volusia County home and was later found dead in a pond.
The previous week it was 4-year-old Waylon Childs. He drowned in a body of water at a park in Ormond Beach. He too had autism, just like the 5-year-old boy who drowned at park in Kissimmee the week before Waylon died.
“Children with autism are drowning at an alarming rate,” a Wednesday news release from the Autism Society of Florida states. “In fact, Florida is on its way to breaking a state record in the number of children who have died from drowning in a calendar year.
“As of today [Wednesday], 97 children have died from drowning across the state and 27 percent of those children had a diagnosis of autism, the news release states. The group believes the number of children with autism who have died is much larger.
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“One of the largest challenges that we face in looking at the data is that 61 of the 97 children [who drowned in 2024] were age 3 and under, and according to the Centers for Disease Control, autism is not typically diagnosed until the age of 4 1/2,” Hoaglund stated in the news release.
In September, 2-year-old Melani Ava White drowned in a retention pond at the Bennett Creek apartment complex on Jacksonville’s Southside. Melani’s mother told Action News Jax that her daughter was in the process of being diagnosed with autism.
“Children with autism are drawn to water,” Hoaglund stated in the news release. “The sensory experiences that one has in the water are unlike anything else. Compound that with a lack of fear of the unknown, and you have a recipe for disaster.”
That’s likely what happened in August to 3-year-old Gabriel in Putnam County. He went missing before a Putnam County Sheriff’s Office dive team found him dead in the water near a dock by his home. His family said he had “special needs.”
“While some research indicates that about half of the children diagnosed with autism wander away from safety, it is challenging to find a parent who hasn’t had that moment when they turned for a split-second and their child had wandered off,” the Autism Society of Florida news release states. “Nearly all of the children who died in Florida this year from drowning had gotten out of their homes or away from their caregivers undetected, which is something that parents of children with autism face every day.”
The autism group is pressing the state for help and says taking the following precautions can help save lives:
- Install fencing around backyard pools and bodies of water.
- Ensure that your child has swimming lessons. (Find a list of parent recommended swim schools here).
- Learn CPR so that you know what to do in an emergency situation.
- NEVER leave your child unattended.
- Designate a water watcher whenever children are in or around the water.
- For children who have a known tendency to wander, consider location devices. Every second counts.
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