DE PERE (NBC 26) — A tracking device is helping parents of children with special needs stay connected, one mother says it has opened up her family's world.
- Meet one mother who says a tracking and communication device helped keep her eight-year-old son out of danger
- Brown County's Children's Long Term Supportprogram helped take care of fees to get the family this needed technology
- 100 people in Brown County are using this device, half of them had the fees waived through CLTS
One mom is spreading the word about a device which can help families which she says are "Uniquely made." The piece of technology she can access from anywhere has helped to keep her kid out of danger.
Jewel Nunely, mother of four, works at Kindercare Ledgeview, not far from her son's school. One day she says her eight-year-old, Carl, wandered off to a nearby pond.
"He's very very outside oriented, so we love animals and bugs and water," Jewel said. "But we don't necessarily have the safety skills right now to understand the difference between fun and danger."
Carl has autism. So, Jewel and her husband use a device called AngelSense. Carl wears the device, which has a GPS tracker, and can be used to communicate with him directly.
The day he wandered off, after his teacher and school staff couldn't get him to come away from the water, Jewel says talking to her son through AngelSense helped bring him safely back to class.
"The device was designed for people with autism or dementia or other special needs to be able to get real time tracking because they saw that there was nothing really on the market that was as effective as it needed to be," Hasmig Tempesta, a Wisconsin-based representative with AngelSense, said.
The device has been around for years, but Tempesta says strides have been taken in the last decade to make different wearing options, like a watch, and provide services in the app like the ability to contact emergency services and speak to the wearer directly, or set reminders and pre-record messages.
Tempesta says the app has 100 users in Brown County and half of them had the cost covered by the county's Children's Long Term Support program, including the Nunleys.
"It's invaluable, it's indescribable how much of a burden that took off of our family," Jewel said. "To know that they are safe, to know that they have the opportunity to do things that they want to do with their peers and be able to socialize."
The Nunleys use the device for both Carl and his younger sister, who was also diagnosed with autism. She says it's opened up their family's world. This year, for the first time, the children were able to ride the bus to school instead of being taken by their parents.
"So often we are, as parents [of children with special needs or neurological differences], feel outcasted, like you can't participate in things ... So when we have things like AngelSense [and other community support] that gives us voice and choice to be a part of our community we really appreciate it."
