Elopement
Occurrence and Family Impact of Elopement in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Anderson C, et al. · Pediatrics, 2012 · Survey of 1,218 children with ASD
This survey remains one of the largest looks at wandering behavior in autism, and it's the basis for Kinocular's departure-detection priority. Parents were asked whether their child had ever attempted to leave a supervised space without permission, where it happened, and what the outcome was.
49%
had attempted to elope after age four
74%
of elopements were from the child's own home
41.5 min
average time missing once wandered off
Among children who went missing, close calls with traffic and water were both common — serious enough that many families described wandering as their single greatest safety fear, ranking above aggression or self-injury.
Read the full study on PMC →
Injury mortality
Injury Mortality in Individuals With Autism
Guan J, Li G. · American Journal of Public Health, 2017;107(5):791–793 · US death records, 1999–2014
This analysis reviewed national death records for people with an autism diagnosis over a fifteen-year span, comparing the share of deaths attributable to injury against the general population.
27.9%
of recorded deaths were injury-related
Drowning and asphyxiation after wandering were among the leading injury causes identified. This is the study behind Kinocular's framing of departure and fall detection as safety-critical rather than convenience features.
Read the full study on PubMed →
Self-injury
Prevalence of Self-injurious Behaviors among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Population-Based Study
Soke GN, et al. · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2016;46(11):3607–3614 · Population-based study of 8,065 children with ASD
This population-based study documented how common self-injurious behavior is among children with ASD, and which forms it most often takes — directly informing which behaviors Kinocular's abnormal-behavior detection is built to recognize.
27.7%
documented prevalence of self-injurious behavior
Head-banging, hand- or arm-biting, and excessive self-rubbing or scratching were among the most frequently documented behaviors. Repeated head-banging specifically is one of the predefined patterns Kinocular flags.
Read the full study on PMC →
On the 39.89 figure sometimes cited alongside this research: that number is a proportionate mortality ratio for drowning, not a "times more likely" statistic. It reflects drowning's share of deaths in this population compared with the general public, and should not be quoted without that context.