NOVI, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Novi School District and police department hosted a safety fair Thursday. It was a chance for families of children with special needs to interact with first responders so they can be ready in case of an emergency.
Jorgia Basner-May’s son, Jamison, is a student in the Novi school district. He has severe non-verbal autism.
“This event is very important because it’s a concern that if he were to elope, or an emergency crisis were to occur, that we have a plan in action,” said Basner-May.
Elope is used in the autism community and means to wander away. Basner-May is not just speaking theoretically.
“Unfortunately, things like that have happened. Not for long durations of time, but it definitely, when it occurs, it definitely makes you panic. You feel terrible,” Basner-May explained.
Julie Warren is a detective with the Novi Police Department and the school resource officer for the district. She helped put on the safety fair.
“We all need to be on the same page with things. So when we have a family member who might be in crisis and they might have a special needs child or family member, we want them to feel comfortable calling us, and we want to be able to quickly realize what we can do to help serve them,” said Warren.
She detailed how it gets put into action.
“Let’s say they have a child who is drawn to water. Our police department, once we get the address, it will be flagged and we’ll be able to immediately go to that water by their house while we’re gathering information,” Warren explained.
So what could families expect at the safety fair?
“When they come into the safety fair, we’ll take a picture of their child. From there, that picture will be uploaded into a computer system and we’ll have people importing pertinent information. So like I said, whether they’re drawn to water, whether they like cars. And so they will be able to leave with that form, so they will have one of those and they know that we have it on file. And other people from other communities can come as well and take it to their local police department to keep it on file,” said Warren.
Shailee Patel is the director of special education for Novi schools. She explained just how many kids could benefit.
“We have about 486 students with disabilities. There’s 13 categories and there’s a wide range of them. From kids that need very minimal support to kids that need a lot of support,” Patel said.
She said that’s why they’re holding the event, to develop individualized safety plans and to make sure parents feel supported.
Patel also explained, sometimes the kids just need a small stimulation device to focus.
“Sometimes kids just need a squeeze ball because that’s the sensory feel that they need. Then we have these little pop-things they can use,” she explained showing off a pop-it device. “And it just keeps them calm in the classroom so they can participate and they don’t have to be removed.”
Jorgia Basner-May hopes the safety fair has a far reaching impact.
“I really do hope that other communities will see Novi as an example and will start hosting their own safety fairs to help strengthen that relationship between students with disabilities and the city,” she said.
