WOODLAWN, Ohio ‒ Jonisa Cook gets teary-eyed talking about her son four months after his death. She still struggles to walk past kids’ clothing racks in stores, or grocery aisles with his favorite foods, like Dino Nuggets and pudding cups.
Joshua Al-Lateef Jr., a 6-year-old diagnosed with autism, drowned in a pond at the family’s apartment complex in November.
“He was lovable and his smile was everything. He ran to the sound of his own beat,” she told The Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network. “We miss him a lot. The house is definitely quieter.”
Joshua is one of at least 69 children with autism who drowned in 2024, almost double the typical annual average of 35 wandering-related drowning deaths, according to the National Autism Association.
Jonisa Cook, 43, moved to Woodlawn with her two children this year. In November, her 6-year-old son, Joshua Al-Lateef Jr., drowned in a pond at the West Chester apartment complex where the family lived.
Word spread quickly on social media that Joshua was missing. Police, hundreds of volunteers and friends and family all searched for him, despite the snow. His body was found the day after he was reported missing. His story is similar to other kids across the country.
“When you see a case like Joshua’s, it really stands out just because of the community involvement, how everybody came together, how quickly they mobilized,” said Lori McIlwain, co-founder of the National Autism Association. “The caring and compassion was so clearly there – you could feel it.”
Jonisa Cook and Joshua’s two siblings moved out of their West Chester apartment after his death. The family now lives in Woodlawn, another Cincinnati suburb.
Cook is trying to prevent this from happening to other families. She’s serving on an Ohio missing persons group to change the way state and local agencies respond to cases like Joshua’s, and she started a petition to implement a new “Joshua Alert” for missing children with spectrum disorders.
“Since Joshua (died), his dad sent me, within like a week or two after that, stories of three or four other kiddos (who drowned),” she said. “This is a big issue.”
Experts unsure how to explain jump in autistic children’s deaths
The National Autism Association, a nonprofit that provides education, tools and research for the autism community, has tracked deaths of children and adults with autism for decades. McIlwain said drowning deaths among autistic children had not been trending up before 2024. There was a record low number of these types of deaths in 2020.
“Last year was an outlier,” she said. “There’s no real indication as to why.”
Other factors – like the average age of children who drowned, which was 6 – were similar to past years. The risk of drowning went up if the child was under 14 and nonspeaking.
“If they wander away, drowning is pretty imminent, meaning more times than not they are going to drown,” McIlwain said.
Joshua, a 6-year-old boy with autism, was found dead in a pond near his West Chester home hours after he was reported missing in November. Joshua died by accidental drowning, the leading cause of wandering-related deaths for autistic children last year.
Children with autism sometimes wander away, or elope, from parents or caregivers. Many autistic kids are also drawn to water, regardless of its temperature, because it offers a calming sensory effect.
‘So easy to happen so quickly’: Her boy wandered from home and died. This mom wants you to know the perils of ‘elopement.’
The risk of drowning for autistic children is more than 160 times greater than the general child population, according to a 2017 study by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Drowning deaths are more common during warmer months, but can still happen in winter. A 6-year-old girl with autism drowned in an icy pond in Massachusetts this January.
Families all over are affected: 26 states had one or more wandering-related drowning deaths last year, according to the National Autism Association.
A 2013-2022 study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children found that 83% of all accidental deaths of missing autistic children were due to drowning. The study also found drownings were most common among boys between 3 and 8 years old.
Education, police training could lead to more rescues
Training first responders and parents to check nearby ponds, pools or creeks when a child with autism goes missing is critical, McIlwain said, and there’s evidence that message is becoming more widespread. Though there was a record high number of autistic child drownings last year, there was also a record number of rescues.
“Even though it was such a tragic year, there’s more awareness than we’ve ever seen,” McIlwain said. “First responders knowing where to search, knowing the water piece. So, that’s all very encouraging. It’s bittersweet.”
The National Autism Association launched its #SearchWaterFirst campaign in 2013 to spread awareness. Groups like Autism Connections train first responders to check bodies of water first when an autistic child is reported missing.
Large police agencies typically offer this kind of training, but smaller jurisdictions may not have the resources to provide it, McIlwain said. To fix that, McIlwain would like to see autism-specific training taught at police academies and in criminal justice programs.
Hundreds of volunteers gathered to search for Joshua in West Chester on Nov. 21.
Cook is working to start a foundation in Joshua’s name that could help parents get access to appropriate child care, affordable tracking devices and other support.
Cook smiled as she remembered Joshua’s early grasp of letters, colors and shapes. He was diagnosed with autism as a toddler.
“It was hard. Especially when he would cry and you knew something was hurting him, but he couldn’t tell you what was going on,” she said. “That was one of the hardest things as a parent.”
Cook took classes for parents with autistic children at Cincinnati Children’s and enrolled Joshua in specialized therapies and schools. It was both challenging and rewarding, she said, as they celebrated all of Joshua’s milestones.
But child care for autistic kids can be hard to navigate and demand can outpace availability. Cook lost some of her support system when her parents died in 2020. She wants other parents of autistic children to know they’re not alone.
“A lot of families don’t have help. A lot of people don’t want to deal with it. They think the kid is too hyper, or they don’t understand (them),” she said. “A lot of families don’t understand the day-to-day. It’s going to appointments, therapy, speech (class), school meetings. It’s different.
“There’s definitely a need for more child care opportunities for kiddos with autism. There’s definitely more education that needs to be out there for families with autism,” she said.
Photos of Joshua decorate the family’s new apartment in Woodlawn. His mother, Jonisa Cook, is working to make resources for families with autistic kids more accessible.
What does 2024 jump in deaths mean for 2025?
Five kids with autism have drowned so far this year, according to the National Autism Association.
“We had a couple of deaths so far in January. Last year we didn’t have any January deaths,” McIlwain said. “I don’t know if it’s going to continue trending up, but this is definitely different from previous years.”
At the same time, new policies are going into effect. Last summer, Kentucky created the “Ian Alert,” which works like an Amber Alert for children with disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, who go missing. It’s named for 9-year-old Ian Sousis, who drowned in the Ohio River in 2022. The alert hasn’t been used yet in the state, according to Kentucky State Police.
“The alert system is one piece, but it’s a critical piece,” McIlwain said. “Just like the tracking devices and home security, supervision, all of these are critical pieces. Combining these pieces is going to be what keeps our kids safe.”
Cook’s petition to implement a similar “Joshua Alert” in Ohio has more than 15,000 signatures. Through her foundation, Cook hopes to make tracking devices better and more affordable, and help parents navigate child care.
“One of the things that I feel is helping me cope with Joshua’s death is I am on this mission to help other families, so they won’t have to experience it,” Cook said. “I still have my moments. When I start to think about him more, (I tell myself,) ‘I’m doing work. I’m trying to prevent this from happening to someone else.'”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Drowning deaths for kids with autism almost doubled last year
