FRANKLIN, Ind. -- The Johnson County Sheriff's Department plans to list autistic children on a dispatch registry so firefighters and police officers will be better prepared to help them in emergencies, RTV6's Ben Morriston reported.

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Emergency Personnel Train To Help Autistic

Emergency responders in the county also have been undergoing specialized training to learn how to deal with the autistic.

"If a fireman comes to a home that is on fire, a normal child is going to be very glad to see someone to rescue them. A child with autism ... may fight them because they're scared -- it's someone they don't know," said the Earlywood Education Center's Mary Irvin.

Earlywood has helped Greenwood firefighters to learn how to respond to the autistic and others with disabilities.

"We gave them a general awareness of autism, and then we talked about some specific behaviors that they may encounter, and talked about what that may look like and what they can do," the center's Toni Flowers said.

Johnson County Sheriff Terry McLaughlin said the planned registry will be helpful for emergency personnel and the autistic children who are listed. Such information could, for example, prevent police officers from taking unnecessary enforcement actions.

"It's able to show that there might be a problem with a child there -- they might not want to talk to us, whatever the case," McLaughlin said.

Officials estimate that 150 children in Johnson County are autistic, Morriston reported.