Mother's warning after autistic toddler nearly drowned in St Helens lake

A mother whose three-year-old autistic daughter nearly drowned after running away from home has spoken out about the need for better understanding of what she called autism elopement. Alex Price, 40, said her daughter Ayda, who is also non-verbal, was found face down in a lake near the family's home in Thatto Heath, St Helens, in April 2024. The child survived and went on to make what her mother described as a full recovery.

According to Price, Ayda was in the care of a relative when she left the family home at about 13:00 BST, prompting the relative to call police straight away. Price recalled that officers searched the area extensively before Ayda was discovered floating face down in the water, kept afloat by her nappy. She said paramedics told her the child had no pulse for a period, but they kept working on her until water came up and she began breathing again.

Ayda spent two days in a coma at Alder Hey Children's Hospital before recovering. Her mother said it had been heartbreaking to see how quickly people could pass cruel judgements about her care, with some suggesting it amounted to bad parenting. Price stressed that a child can disappear in a split second and that such incidents happen frequently.

Price said she was also upset by the reaction to the case of three-year-old Noah Woods, who was found dead in a pond after going missing in a Suffolk village in September. Noah was being assessed for autism at the time but had not received a diagnosis. An initial inquest hearing heard he left a play area through a gap in the fence, and a full inquest has not yet taken place.

She argued that people who make hateful comments do not understand autism, often assuming a child has the danger awareness of a neurotypical peer. According to the National Autism Association, nearly half of children with autism are at risk of wandering away from a safe setting, and elopement is often a form of communication rather than simple misbehaviour. Price said she wants to educate both new autistic parents and the wider public, adding that learning about autism might one day help save a child.