EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. – An 11 year old boy found dead in a pond near his home in Eden Prairie is the second child with autism in the Twin Cities metro to drown this year.
Fay Jede hoped that her son Waeys, who was four, would be the last.
Mohamed Mohamed was reported missing on Sunday evening. About four hours later, search teams found his body in a pond near his home.
When asked what she felt when she heard the news about Mohamed, Jede said: “Exactly the feeling I felt on June 10. I cried, I was shocked.”
Jede, together with other parents of children with autism, advocated change.
A petition they started Sunday night has more than 800 signatures; it calls for free swimming education for all vulnerable children in Minnesota.
“It’s a life skill that should be accessible to all parents and all children,” says Najma Siyad, mother of a child with autism. “It should be part of their IEP plans.”
Anisa Hagi-Mohamed has three children with autism.
“We live in a state with 12,000 lakes and we need to keep our children safe,” she said. “This must be the last child to die this way.”
The parents say it’s not entirely clear why children with autism want to escape, but that they are often drawn to water.
“It’s the fear you always have, that one day your child will run away,” Jede said.
Six-year-old Hagi-Mohamed did it last year.
“She ended up running outside and was close to a pond when I caught up with her,” she said. “I actually had to jump in, and luckily it was very muddy water, so she was kind of stuck there, but it was a very scary experience for me.”
They are also calling for other changes, including an Amber Alert-style system for children with autism, more fencing around water bodies and easier access to indoor safety locks.
“Some people are lucky that their child is found and they get home safely,” Jede said. “For some families like me, they’re not so lucky.”
According to the National Autism Association, half of children with autism will try to escape from a safe environment.
They are also 160 times more likely to drown than other children.
Police are still investigating Mohamed’s death.
David Schuman
