Webinar: Autism and Water Safety-Understanding Water Attraction and How to Reduce Risk
This webinar will take place on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM Eastern time.
Children with autism face a significantly elevated risk of drowning, often driven by a unique and powerful attraction to water. In this webinar, Lori McIlwain, Founder and President of the National Autism Safety Council, explains why children with autism are drawn to water, how that attraction intersects with elopement risk, and what caregivers can do to promote water safety at home and in the community.
Who is Lori McIlwain?
Lori McIlwain is the Founder and President of the National Autism Safety Council and a nationally recognized advocate for autism safety, particularly in the areas of elopement and drowning prevention. After her son with autism went missing from a school playground in the 2000s, she began systematically tracking missing-person cases involving autistic individuals – work that grew into the first national dataset of its kind and revealed drowning as the leading cause of death in elopement-related incidents. Her findings were presented before a federal committee and have helped transform how first responders and families search for missing persons with autism. Over two decades, Lori has published multiple studies on lethal outcomes in elopement, developed national safety programs and initiatives like Search Water First, SafeSwim for Autism, and the Big Red Safety Box, trained caregivers, first responders, and educators nationwide, and helped shape federal guidelines in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.