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Duval school for students with autism works to prevent drowning before Spring Break

Drowning is the leading cause of death for children with autism under age 15, according to the Autism Society of Florida.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As the weather gets warmer, it may have you outside and around water more often, but making sure your family is ready to do that safely is the goal of educators and safety experts in Duval County.

On Thursday a public school and Wolfson Children's Hospital are teaming up to educate children with autism, who are at a greater risk of drowning. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children with autism under age 15, according to the Autism Society of Florida.

Florida is a top state where people drown in pools, cites the life insurance company Quote Wizard, but Jessica Winberry, a prevention coordinator with Wolfson Children's Hospital says any body of water can be a risk to children. On Thursday Winberry will be educating students at Oak Hill Academy, a public school for children on the autism spectrum or with related disabilities.

"For us, we might not consider going to swim in a retention pond," Winberry told First Coast News. "But for a little kid, that really looks no different than a lake or a pond or the river that they may go with their families to."

Winberry says even bathtubs and toilets can be unsafe. She encourages parents to use a door or window alarm on an entrance to water.

"It may be that we have a door lock on our bathroom door and maybe that we have additional alarms on our back door that may lead out to a pool or a retention pond or a spa or a kiddie pool," Winberry said. "Having those multiple layers of protection is going to be key because if one fails, hopefully that allows a caregiver enough time to kind of recognize that the child's gone."

Donna Free, site coach at Oak Hill Academy, says the school has given door and window alarms to parents.

"Students and children with autism have a tendency to wander and elope from safe places and are drawn to water and without understanding what the consequences are and the risk associated with the water," Free said.

In 2021 after four children died in retention ponds in four months, two of them young children with autism and one a teenager, Jacksonville City Councilmembers Ju’Coby Pittman and LeAnna Cumber started a retention pond safety campaign.

Pittman tells First Coast News the city will continue to publicize the safety campaign, is working with the school system to create a public service announcement and is discussing requirements for new developments to keep retention ponds safe, including a database for new ponds.

At Oak Hill Academy, they're using Read Across America Day to educate students with a story.

"All of our students learn in different ways," said Free. "So I'm hoping, not just that they'll hear the story, but maybe they'll be asked some questions and they'll be able to respond to show that they can comprehend what's being read to them and that they'll take the information and it'll help keep them safe."

Winberry says learning to swim is also key. According to the Florida Department of Health, 486 people drowned in Florida in 2021 and 22 of those people were in Duval County.

Read the CDC's drowning prevention tips here.

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