Members of the Weyburn Police Service (WPS) were given presentations about people who live with intellectual disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), in order to better understand what might be happening when they attend a call.
Inclusion Weyburn helped organize the presentations to the police members, with Leah Petersen from the Saskatchewan Health Authority speaking on March 9 and 11, and she will present the information once more on April 7, with a different group of officers at each presentation.
The information from the SHA was on behalf of the Autism Spectrum Disorder Team, with a discussion on what autism is and how it impacts the behaviour of a person on the spectrum.
“Inclusion Weyburn got involved with this last year, before COVID hit. It was initiated because we wanted to support our officers who are called on to assist people with intellectual disabilities, some of them non-communicative,” explained Jackie Wilson of Inclusion Weyburn.
“This would be a difficult situation for both the individual and officers. Leah Petersen and I talked to acting police chief at the time, Rod Stafford, to see if we could provide our assistance in this. He was very open to this, and plans were put in place to have Leah provide a presentation on autism and other intellectual disabilities to Weyburn's police officers during their in-service days in the spring of 2020. It was disappointing when COVID-19 stopped us from going ahead with Leah’s presentation and introduction of the self-regulation tools last year,” Wilson said.
She explained that Inclusion Weyburn assisted in selecting fidget/self-regulation tools to be purchased and placed in each of the Weyburn City Police vehicles. These tools can help to calm individuals who have intellectual disabilities, so would be helpful in stressful situations.
“Inclusion Weyburn was pleased when Sgt. John Clark approached us about having Leah participate in this spring’s inservice. We are so happy and thankful that our Weyburn City Police Service makes understanding and assisting people who have intellectual disabilities a priority,” said Wilson.
The presentations included recommendations for what a police officer should or should not do or say when responding to a call, as the explanation delved into the how and why an autistic person acts.
As Petersen explained, ASD is a neurological impairment which may not be manifest in a person’s behaviour until later in childhood when social expectations start to become more complicated. Some of the symptoms or deficits include social and emotional impairment, communication impairment, stereotyped behaviours or interests, and sensory sensitivity.
As the term “spectrum” suggests, behaviour and reactions may span a whole range of activities, depending on how severe the impairment is with an individual.
One factor is that people with ASD have dysfunctional sensory systems, so they might react and process information differently than other people, and they might overreact or underreact to sensory information.
One of the sensory systems affected is interoception, which is one’s ability to sense internal conditions of the body, such as hunger, fullness, pain, body temperature, the need for the bathroom, anxiety and frustration. This affects those with ASD, but also those with mental illness or those recovering from addiction.
“They’re not able to process those signals and respond to them in many ways,” said Petersen, giving as an example that a person with ASD may not be eating properly. Many people think a child will eat when they feel hungry enough, but this isn’t always the case for someone with ASD.
Another important factor is to understand how a person with ASD communicates, as they don’t communicate in the same way, such as with full eye contact.
An officer commented that this is good for them to know, as part of their training in responding to calls is to rely on eye contact to know what is happening with a person’s state of mind when entering a home or a business.
Petersen explained that it is important to never demand extended eye contact, because then the person with ASD expends all of their energy to the eye contact, and they aren’t comprehending what is being said to them (such as by a police officer).
The officer noted this is the opposite of their training, as when they respond to a call, they’re trying to establish what is happening (depending on the nature of the call), and they’re trained to watch the eyes closely to help them determine the person’s state of mind, or if drugs or alcohol is involved.
In the case of a person with ASD, fleeting eye contact is a sign they are paying attention to what is being said.
Another factor to be aware of is a child with ASD is not acting out to seek attention, and it may be that their sensory system is overwhelmed, they’re anxious, or they don’t understand what expectations there are for their behaviour.
If the behaviour has escalated to a “lid flip”, it may be due to the fact the person doesn’t have the skills to self-regulate their emotions or to calm themselves. They may not be able understand others verbally.
A parent or a police officer responding to such a situation can’t tell them to calm down, they need to show them and model calm behaviour. Those with ASD are very visual, and one can’t assume they understand verbal information, even when they are able to say many words.
“We use pictures and very little words,” said Petersen, recommending that someone could use Google or a sketchpad whenever they are able, in order to visually show them what they’re talking about.
Petersen recommended that an officer not use words if a person with ASD is having a tantrum, but be very brief and concise, paring down to two or three words, and model calmness.
A responding officer might also determine if the person with ASD has eaten or is thirsty, as they will not be able to focus or remain calm if they are hungry, thirsty or sleep deprived.
