Linked- Autism Safety Project

The Leland Grove Police Department is excited to announce a new and innovative program and partnership with Linked- Autism Safety Project.

 

LINKED is a national program that was created by an Autism mom, Ashley McClain to build a relationship between emergency responders and the members of the Autism and special needs community. This project was created as a collaborative effort with a network of public safety professionals, autism professionals and autism parents.

 

This program is a voluntary registration for the Leland Grove’s official Special Needs Alert System. Caregivers of the Leland Grove’s autism and special needs community can access the registration form from the police departments’ website – www.LelandGrove.com or by stopping into the Leland Grove’s Department to fill out a hardcopy of the registration form. This information will provide first responders with important individualized information about the person with autism and within the special needs community. This will allow the responder to create a pre-arrival plan to best assist those within the community. All registrations are secure and confidential and used only for the response of Leland Grove Police Department first responders. This information will be kept confidential and will not be sold or accessible to anyone other than the first responders.  Once the registration is complete you may email it to LGPD@Lelandgrove.com or hand deliver it to the Department. 

 

Each family that registers for the LINKED program will receive a Family Emergency Planning Packet with individualized instructions and a guide that includes tips and tools to navigate this program and an emergency. Additionally, the Family Emergency Planning Packets provide an emergency preparedness social story, created by professionals, which is a personalized learning tool containing text and illustration that supports the safe and meaningful exchange of information between parents, professionals, and people within the special needs community of all ages.

 

First responder will be equipped with a sensory pack in every emergency vehicle which contains a variety of sensory products provided by recommended by professionals in the field.

To accompany the sensory packs, LINKED- Autism Safety Project is providing Emergency Picture Exchange Communication System, which is a picture communication tool for non-verbal residents developed by professionals to assist in the dialogue between the child and emergency responders.

 

The Leland Grove Police Department is committed to the Autism and special needs community and developing best practices and increasing the quality of services to all our residents. Leland Grove Police Department will also participate in Autism specific training through LINKED- Autism Safety Program to better understand and support the needs of the Autism community.

 

This program is free and open to all Leland Grove residents. Please share this post with your neighbors and friends.