MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota mother is on a mission to protect children with autism and ease the burden on their families.
Sheletta Brundidge has three children with autism.
She says her 9-year-old son, Daniel, has tried to escape the house at every possible chance for most of his life, a very common impulse for kids with autism.
“It is exhausting mentally, it is draining physically, where you are constantly having to be one step ahead of your child,” Brundidge said.
Brundidge says there have been some frightening close calls, like once when Daniel got out of her parents’ home in Texas.
“He is running full speed, flapping his hands and just having a good old time, heading to a four-lane highway where cars were going 50-60 miles per hour in Houston, Texas,” she said. “Thankfully, I was able to catch him before he got there because he wouldn’t have stopped.”
Then a few years ago, Brundidge came across key-coded door locks for inside the house that cost about $30.