ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — A total of 100 “calming kits” were recently donated to the St. Charles County Police Department that will be used to help children with autism.
Sgt. Dan Asher, St. Charles County Police Department’s Crisis Intervention team coordinator, said the department receives several calls a week about children having behavioral issues.
“We get calls often times involving kids that have autism or sensory issues, and so this is just another tool for us to provide for our community,” he said.
The donation was made by The Synapsory, a local nonprofit that serves children who struggle with autism-related behavioral issues.
The kits are a collection of sensory items designed to help soothe a child’s behavioral issues, such as extreme agitation or uncontrollable outbursts, sometimes caused by autism, according to a press release. Certain types of visual, auditory or tactile engagement can be used to help calm down a child.
If parents reach out to the police department for help in calming down their child, an officer will bring a kit with them, which includes pop-it bubbles, fidget spinners, soft animal-shaped lights that change colors, among other sensory items, according to Asher.
“If they have a child that has sensory issues and they kind of don’t know what to do and they call because the child is acting out or assaulting a family member, or something like that, we can actually bring our little sensory kit with us and help that child to kind of stabilize and calm down,” he said.
Asher said the kits can be left with the families if they want to keep them.
“Having this new tool helps us build a relationship with the community and the families, but also helps us with the child so they actually have something that they can tangibly handle to actually start deescalating and calming down,” he said.
The kits also will be used to get children out of dangerous situations, such as enticing them out of a body of water or pool, according to Asher. He mentioned the Ellisville Police Department saved a child from drowning by luring the child out of a pool with a “calming” kit.
St. Charles County Police officers will be trained on how to use the kits.