Posted on 03/22/2008 12:41:56 PM PDT by Maelstorm
It is believed to be a first in Western New York. A traffic sign alerting drivers that there is a child in the area with autism.
Take a trip down Sargent Drive in the town of Amherst and you will no doubt see the traffic sign. It's a warning sign that there is a child in the area with autism. The Amherst Traffic Safety Board put the signs on the street Wednesday morning.
The father of Sawyer Aston, 8, took the idea of installing a traffic sign on their street to town officials several months ago. The idea was researched and approved.
According to the Autism Society of America, autism is the result of 1 in 150 births. It is the fastest-growing developmental disability.
Sawyer does not talk. His parents say he does not understand the danger of walking into the street as a car is passing by. The Aston's have taken numerous precautions to take keep Sawyer safe. He wears a tracking device and they have a fenced in front yard.
Good thing it doesn’t say “Autistic Child in Area” because those drivers “educated” in our NEA public schools might go searching for the kid to get a caricature or landscape painting done.
LOL! You must have been a Boy Scout!
” You must have been a Boy Scout!”
Yes, yes I was, but not a very good one.
Well, you’re prepared now :-).
I saw these in NW Colorado. They said “Open Range, Loose Stock”
Let’s see if those Eastern “liberals” and “progressives” know what that means.
I remember seeing a sign which read:
NO PARKING
NO EXCUSES
Now here is a useful sign
They auto-attract to autos, and then auto-explode?
They don't necessarily react to cars in the same way that other children do. If a child is standing in the road and sees a car coming, his natural reaction is to get out of the way. An autistic child might see the car, but assign it no more importance that the sound of a dog barking in the neighborhood or the fact that the wind is blowing. That child may or may not react to the car.
This is all because autism (real autism, not the catch-all diagnosis that some lazy doctors will apply to children that are merely high-spirited) is a defect in how the brain filters incoming sensory data. Normally, the brain prioritizes the data. We sense a great deal more than we're capable of dealing with, so the brain only passes along what's important; like the approaching car. In an autistic brain, the data all comes in without any weighting. Thus the car is no more important that any other bit of sensory data.
If you hit one, then you’re in trouble. Unless you were doing 20 or less. Then the kid gets the ticket./s
If true, that is fascinating. A little bit of autism might be a good thing for certain tasks. For instance, searching for evidence at a crime scene. Searching for the enemy in a combat zone. Maybe cracking codes too. Mushroom hunting, maybe.
Was insulting to the developmentally disabled.
Not really because you expect normal children to react in a normal way. It is an "Expect the Unexpected" warning sign.
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