DALLAS – The search for six-year-old Dalton Robison played out in the most tragic – but not the most unusual – of ways.
Dalton, who has autism and is non-verbal, wandered from his home near Talty in Kaufman County on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon.
A massive search ended at 2 a.m. Monday, when divers discovered his body in a nearby pond. While the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate, no foul play is suspected. Investigators believe his death was a tragic accident.
An estimated 49 percent of children with autism wander from their homes, according to data published in a pediatric medical research journal in 2012. In 2017, the National Autism Association reviewed media coverage of cases of missing children with autism, and found that of the 808 stories in the news between 2011 and 2016, 17 percent ended in death, and 71 percent of those deaths were from drowning.
“It’s very tragic,” said Carolyn Garver, director of the Autism Treatment Center in Dallas. Garver said each individual’s reasons for wandering away from their homes are different.
She appreciates the efforts of many local police and sheriff’s departments who have instituted special needs registries in recent years. The registries provide a way for families to voluntarily give law enforcement officers key information about loved ones with autism or other developmental disabilities.
The registries can also apply to seniors battling dementia or Alzheimer’s. Some registries include a place for families to submit a photo and special information to help if the person was ever the focus of a search and rescue.
“You’d say, 'Oh, this is so and so, here’s his phone number, here’s his age, here’s what he likes to do, his favorite color, he doesn’t like to be touched, doesn’t like sounds,'” she explained.
Garver would like to see the registries expand. But, she said, families can take all the precautions possible and accidents can and will still happen.
“There’s not a hundred percent solution to anything, we’re all human beings,” she said.