Preparing Autistic Youth for Emergency Situations

• Communication – Whether vocal or non-vocal, learning communication skills will proactively help autistic children when they have to interact with emergency medical service (EMS) providers. Goals of ABA sessions could be to help clients understand and respond to instructions, express their needs, and provide critical information such as their phone number or address. Being able to ask and respond to questions can greatly help with problem-solving and self-advocacy during crises.
• Safety – Learning safety skills such as fire and poison prevention is often a high priority during ABA services. This might entail memorizing simple rules about how to prevent and react to different kinds of danger, but also actively practicing important skills. Some examples of commonly practiced routines include staying out of the street, avoiding wandering from safe areas without supervision, and tolerating medical examinations and care.
• Stress Management – As reviewed in another recent blog post, there are numerous ways to prepare for and process stress. Our clinicians and technicians can help clients tackle anxiety during emergency situations by identifying and teaching coping skills that work best for each individual, such as self-soothing, engaging in deep breathing or mindfulness, or following step-by-step checklists.
• Familiarity With Emergency Services – Sometimes simply being able to identify and recognize professionals within the community based on their uniforms and equipment can be a huge help during emergencies. These cues can then also be associated with which emergencies the different professionals are able to help with, what assistance they can provide, and how to safely interact with them. This can make it easier to know who to seek out and ask for help in different circumstances, as well as decrease potential fear of unfamiliar strangers.
• Desensitization – While ABA services should never expose autistic clients to aversive stimuli and scenarios without their consent, gradually becoming familiar with scary things can be extremely helpful in overcoming fears and anxiety. As long as the individual is actively on board, we could provide video and/or audio recordings of alarms or sirens, seek out chances to observe them safely at home or in the community, and even provide opportunities to interact and become familiar with them directly, as exemplified in this story of a young autistic man learning to be comfortable with and downright interested in fire alarms!

Some environments like schools, workplaces, and condominium/apartment complexes have emergency drill plans in place to provide opportunities to practice these skills and ensure that systems are working correctly. While the suddenness of these drills without necessarily having advance notice is important for their realism, it’s highly advisable to let your loved one know that they will happen at some point. This will hopefully allow for the drills to be less stressful than real emergencies, while at the same time allowing for more and more confidence in being prepared for true crises.