The search for missing seven-year-old autistic boy from Cape Breton was scaled back Sunday at nightfall, but police have vowed they will continue to search until the boy is found.

James Delorey has been missing since Saturday about 2 p.m., when he wandered into the woods near South Bar, apparently following the family's dog.

The boy, who doesn't speak, was not dressed for the cold temperatures and heavy snow that hit the area Saturday and continued into Sunday. James, who has brown hair and weighs about 60 pounds, was wearing dark jeans, a blue plaid shirt and a grey vest — no winter coat, no hat, no mittens.

Hundreds of people were out on foot and ATVs again on Sunday, starting at first light. The response of volunteers was so overwhelming, police started asking people to call ahead first because they were running out of places to ask them to look.

Previous air, water and ground searches of the woods and shoreline found no signs of the boy.

Volunteer firefighter Ray Martell said the blustery, winter storm made the search difficult. "There's a lot of snow in the woods, on the trails. Trees and branches are hanging down in front of you, it's not very good for ATVs at all. And if the little fella is under a branch or something somewhere, you'd literally have to walk on him. It's really bad in the woods."

Techniques adjusted

Const. Kenny Routledge, who is co-ordinating the search and rescue for the Cape Breton Regional Police, said they have adjusted their usual search techniques in hopes the boy will respond.

"It's been brought to our attention certain comments that are made — locations, food, anything that would sort of make the young fella excited and want to come to you, bells, anything like that — so we're sorta working at that avenue," Routledge said.

Police had invited the mother of another autistic boy to work with them at the command centre.

Autism spectrum disorder affects normal brain development, leaving most sufferers with communication problems, difficulty with typical social interactions and a tendency to repeat specific patterns of behaviour. Some children with autism exhibit hypersensitivity to stimuli.

"Our biggest hope is that the dog is with him and we're kinda hoping is the dog is lucky enough to see the searchers. We're going to be notified by the dog — the dog's gonna bark we're going to see movement, things like that, and that's what we're hoping for," Routledge said.

Some volunteers have also been canvassing the neighbourhood. James has been known to enter other people's homes when he has wandered off in the past, officials said.

Search in rotations

Routledge said the search and rescue teams will now go out in rotations, so as not to burn out all the units.

"People are tired — we have to get them rested and get a rotation going so we can have fresh bodies," he said.

"The weather is playing a major factor on our searching right now. We're going to take this window of opportunity to get them rested and get a rotation done up and as soon as the window breaks as far as the weather, we're going to be back on the boots and the ground again."

Crews searched all day Saturday until about 2 a.m., when weather conditions forced them to stop.

The temperature was hovering just about freezing late Saturday and Environment Canada had issued a weather warning for the Cape Breton region Sunday, with up to 15 centimetres of snow expected.

Local ground crews consisting of volunteers, family members and police dogs have been involved in the search, as well as ground search teams from mainland Nova Scotia, police said.

A military helicopter equipped with night vision gear joined the search late Saturday from Canadian Forces Base Greenwood, but was grounded Sunday by snow and high winds.