‘The Autism Mom’ offers free safety locks following St. Paul rescue and viral video

On Labor Day, a terrifying scene unfolded on the East Side of St. Paul when a good Samaritan spotted a child in a pond, visibly struggling to stay above water. Within minutes of the 911 call, the St. Paul Police Department deployed a docked drone, flown remotely by a trained officer. Arriving two minutes ahead of ground units, the drone provided critical real-time video that allowed officers to pinpoint the boy's exact location and pull him safely from the water.

According to the child's family, the boy has autism and had wandered away from home unnoticed.

For Sheletta Brundidge, The Autism Mom, seeing the video hit a raw, familiar nerve. As a mother of four—three of whom are on the autism spectrum—she understands that constant, gut-wrenching fear.

"People come to my house, and they say, 'It’s like Fort Knox,' but my kids are still alive," Brundidge said. She uses interior combination locks throughout her home.

According to the American Journal of Public Health, children with autism are 160 times more likely to die from drowning compared to the general pediatric population. The reason is twofold: children with autism lack a cognitive understanding of danger. Additionally, the movement, reflections, temperature changes, and hydrostatic pressure of water provide a deeply soothing sensory input that is very calming to an autistic child whose nervous system is dysregulated.

That’s why Brundidge wants parents of autistic children to know there is a solution that works.

Her youngest son, Daniel, now 11, was a heavy wanderer when he was younger. Escaping was a near-daily routine.

“When he was in fifth grade, he got overstimulated and ran out of the classroom. Nobody could find him and had to call him on the loudspeaker,” Brundidge recalled. Eventually Daniel came out of the spot where he was hiding, but that didn’t eliminate his mom’s anxiety. “They didn’t know where he was, and that’s my biggest fear—that he will wander away and run to a pond, a lake, or a body of water of some kind and drown.”

She tried everything to keep him safe at home—gates, hotel chains, and door alarms. But by the time an alarm went off, he was already halfway down the street. On one occasion while visiting her mother’s house, Daniel snuck out through the garage while his grandfather was grabbing a case of water. Brundidge came out of the bathroom and had to sprint after Daniel as he ran toward a four-lane highway.

The breakthrough came when Brundidge installed interior combination door locks—the kind available online at retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Wayfair for $30 to $50. The devices feature a 10-digit keypad on the inside of the door alongside a key bypass in case of emergency. Without entering that 6-to-10-digit code, a child cannot open the door from the inside and get out of the house.

Brundidge installed the locks about four years ago and hasn’t had an escape since.

Knowing that cost can be a barrier, Brundidge distributes these locks for free to families of children with autism through her nonprofit, Sheletta Makes A Difference. Generous donations, like a recent $3,000 contribution from Lindus Construction, help fund the locks so more families can be protected. Parents can request a free interior combination lock directly through her website at ShelettaMakesADifference.org by clicking the “Free Lock” button at the top of the homepage.