Ashley McClain didn't start out to become a trailblazer when it comes to how the local communities and emergency response teams handle coming to the aid of a child with autism or other children with special needs.
However, after realizing that plans were not in place to address what would happen if the fire department or police department needed to communicate with her son, events started to happen that turned the University of New Haven's head dance team coach into a mother determined to put a plan in place.

Six months after she wondered what the best course of action would be to make certain her 6-year-old son Colton would receive the best care in the event of an emergency, a program was launched in North Branford. Other communities, both in Connecticut and outside the Nutmeg State, jumped on board.

"It is a program that I founded because my son was on the [autism] spectrum, really just it is to provide community support between the first responders and the individuals in the autism spectrum," McClain said. "The program launched in North Branford and now it has branched out to several different towns in and outside of Connecticut. The university has expressed interest as well to potentially providing resources to people visiting campus who might have sensory concerns for stimulation. That is where it started and where we are going."

McClain has connections on both sides of this partnership. Not only is she the mother of a child with special needs, but her father is a retired first responder of West Haven Fire Department.

Education about dealing with people who fall in the autism spectrum is of paramount importance and McClain is more than happy to get this process going.

"I kind of joke that I will talk to anybody who will listen to me about it," McClain said. "I think the biggest thing is just providing education, awareness and resources to the general community about autism and people who experience it in their lives and to first responders as well on how to handle situations because everybody on the autism spectrum is different, every disability looks different, sounds different so to understand how to better support the community will better support the first responders as well."

McClain designs her own sensory bags with the help of her children and she is eager to have as many of those items in emergency response vehicles as possible.

The program also launched at the police departments in Beacon Falls, East Haven, Madison, North Branford, State Capitol Police, North Haven Police Watertown as well as in fire departments in Beacon Falls, Middletown (South District) and West Haven (Center & West Shore). That number will be growing in the coming weeks and months both within the state of CT and outside the state. 

"It is connecting the first responders to individuals in their community so families can fill out a volunteer registration form to allow them to notify first responders," McClain said. "We provide support for family planning in emergency situations, communication tools and resources, we provide education to first responders, and we provide sensory bags to police cars, fire trucks, ambulances that were essentially going to a household so they have tools that can support them. The goal is to get the sensory bags here on campus. "We have had conversations with athletics and also with the main campus so if somebody is coming to campus or if there is a student here who is on sensory overload and there might be some resources that can support them and help them with the bags to deescalate and make them more comfortable."

The Linked - Autism Safety Project has a website https://linkedasp.com/ with more information. The organization also has pages set up on Facebook and Instagram. A non-profit company called Beyond the Horizon Inc. has been created as well.

Some of the members of McClain's dance team have expressed interest in volunteering and speaking of volunteers, she doesn't need to look far to find her most exuberant helpers.

"My daughter and son will put the bags together," McClain said. "[Colton] just started to communicate. He is now helping me put together [sensory bags] to support people like his grandfather or other individuals.
"He loves the sensory bags. This has been a big year for him, he is there to help mom with whatever she needs."

And his mom is more than happy to return the favor.