It can be a parent's worst nightmare... One moment your child is with you and the next you can't find them. These concerns can be especially scary when you have a child who has difficulty communicating, socializing, and other limited or repetitive behaviors. Together, impairments in these three areas define autism.[1]RisksThere may be safety risks that accompany a diagnosis of autism. For example, children with autism are more likely to wander.[2] Children with autism may also have an increased vulnerability to stranger abduction[3], and may be more likely to ingest dangerous household chemicals (e.g., cleaning products) and medicines. Over the course of my career, many families have told me of very scary situations where their children's safety was at risk. Parents shared stories of children who wandered/ran away, children who were willing to leave a place with a complete stranger, and children who tried drinking chemicals at home. Many fathers and mothers are surprised that their children do these things, especially after they have explained the common rules to their children (for example: "Don't go anywhere with a stranger...", "Don't go out without someone you know. ..”, “This is what you do if you get lost…”, “This is what you should do if a stranger tries to take you away…”, “Don't drink this, it's dangerous…”). Clearly, telling a child a rule may not be enough. This may be true for children with or without a diagnosis of autism. As a board-certified clinician and behavior analyst (BCBA) who has worked in the autism field for over 15 years, giving children and their families life-saving safety tips is one of my passions. . Here are some key tips to help keep kids in... half of paper ...... submitted to both provincial and international conferences. Nancy has appeared as a guest on CP24, CHCH news, Daytime Toronto, Daytime York and Hamilton Life as an authority on autism. She currently appears regularly every second Wednesday on the talk show Hamilton Life as an autism expert. Nancy has also been invited to speak and share her experience leading workshops for the Geneva Centre, Kerry's Place and Autism Ontario. Nancy is the executive director and founder of Breakthrough Autism, which offers ABA and IBI-based treatment programs to children with autism. . He is also a part-time faculty member at George Brown College in the Behavioral Science Technology program. Click the image below and visit Nancy's site, Special Appucations, to view information and tools that help make the learning process fun and engaging for children with special needs..