Dealing with Emergencies

Hand holding a phone with "HELP" displayed, next to a medical cross and fire extinguisher icons.

Emergencies can happen anytime, and being prepared is especially important for families of children with disabilities. Planning ahead helps reduce fear and confusion, ensuring everyone knows what to do before, during, and after a crisis. This guide offers practical tips to help you build confidence and stay ready when it matters most.

Emergencies Happen Anytime, Anywhere—Be Ready When They Do

Imagine this… It is a beautiful and sunny fall afternoon at a family gathering. The children are all playing happily in the pool while parents attentively watch for everyone’s safety. Parents take turns leaving the pool area to use the restroom and make plates of food. Each time a parent leaves they make sure to check-in with the others remaining so that they are committed to monitoring the children while they continue to play in the water. As the social event closes out, families escort their child(ren) to various areas of the home to towel off and change into dry clothes while other parents are cleaning up. No one was outside during this time. Suddenly, a parent yells from the pool deck to call 911. One of the children slipped away, wandered outside and in the blink of an eye fell into the pool. When he was found by the parent, he was face down in the pool. No one knew for certain how long he was there. Fortunately, several parents knew CPR and are able to quickly resuscitate and revive the child. The ambulance arrives and the child is rushed to the children’s hospital to assess for secondary drowning symptoms. While a traumatic emergency happened on this day, this story ended happily with a clean bill of health for the child. Sadly, this is not always how the story ends.

It takes seconds for an accident to happen. Emergency situations can arise anytime, anywhere, and typically happen unexpectedly. There are a variety of different scenarios that classify as an emergency when you are doing your best to manage your day-to-day life and keep your family safe. Common emergencies include, but are not limited to, water safety and preventative measures around drowning, fires, wandering/ elopement, traffic accidents, severe weather, fires, sudden onset of severe illness, and related emergencies such as falls and injuries. Ultimately, an emergency is classified as a serious and unexpected situation that requires immediate attention. It is important to consider, as a caregiver, that many situations could fall under this umbrella. We are hopeful that the resources and tools provided within this article serve as practical and preventative measures for you to start implementing today.

A key factor to consider when assessing emergencies is preparation and planning. First off, families can prepare for emergencies by gathering essential items and keeping an emergency kit handy. Families should also take the time to actually practice the proper steps to best manage potential emergency situations. This should include identifying potential environmental risks (for example, poisonous items under the kitchen sink), types of emergencies ( fires, earthquake, tornadoes, etc…), creating a plan, tasking the appropriate parties with skills to learn or practice, and then putting practice into place. Let’s consider the previous scenario. The environmental risk was being in the water, the type of emergency was accidental drowning, and the skills needed included CPR.

Not only is it vital to have skills for emergencies as a parent, it is also critical to assess your child’s skills and unique needs related to common emergencies in advance. Based on your child’s current abilities, it is important to include identification of the most appropriate method of communication. Know your child’s preferred learning style and how to set your child up for success in the event that an emergency occurs. For example, if Billy responds best to visuals when being taught a new skill and he can listen and respond to one-word commands with success, this should be replicated when planning and practicing for emergencies. Research suggests many individuals learn necessary skills through visuals and modeling others. Individuals with special needs often excel at learning new skills through repetition and visual supports. The short duration of time spent reviewing and repeating information can make the difference.

It is also important to stay informed, stay involved, and be creative when working to prepare for an emergency. Tools such as checklists, written or visual family plans and inclusion of all family members/ close friends can be key. These resources can support not only your children during emergency transitions, but also act as a support for you, especially if your attention is elsewhere. Families should make sure that any medications, identification cards/bracelets, and emergency contacts are accessible. The Center for Disease Control recommends that families maintain both electronic and written copies of any notable history, care plans, important contacts, and even documents, such as Individualized Education Plans, be present in emergency kits.

An easily accessible set of tools are social stories. A social story is a social learning tool that allows for the meaningful exchange of information between people and across situations. Emergencies are high-stress situations, and this level of stress can provoke anxiety and problem behavior that can be acted out in a variety of forms. Social stories can give your child a visual guide, and reading through the stories consistently can help your child recall what might happen when an emergency actually occurs. There are many social stories available online for free or at a low cost to families.

Another tool for families is the team of medical and/or mental health providers that are working with them. These providers serve a critical role in collaboration with families in the event of an emergency. It is important for providers to take a proactive and educational approach to ensure families are as prepared for an emergency as they can possibly be. Your provider can help to establish contact information, send reminders to key people, provide support for possible problem behaviors that could occur, and make suggestions for the most successful teaching strategies that are catered to your child.

We also suggest making sure you debrief everyone after an emergency occurs, as we can learn a lot from the specifics of any emergency. What went well and what can be done better in a future emergency? This is important because it is likely that we all will experience multiple types of emergencies in our family’s lifetime.

What if the emergency happens to you and not your child? Making plans for your children in case something happens to you can be important. The different providers working with you can help establish the plan before the worst happens. For example, who are the additional emergency contacts and who should have this information? These things can be hard to think about and discuss, and the providers working with families can act as supports during these crucial conversations.

In closing, when we circle back to our swimming example above, we want to emphasize how important planning ahead is. Consider if none of the parents knew CPR, or if no one shared the responsibility of watching the children. Life comes with risks. We cannot plan for everything, but we can remember to communicate with all parties involved with our children, have documents ready, develop a plan, and establish action items for different people in case an emergency does happen.

About Author

Holly is the Director of Ethical Compliance at [PBS Corp] (https://www.teampbs.com/). and an instructor at Capella University. She is a certified behavior analyst with over a decade of experience in various populations

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This post originally appeared on our September/October 2022 Magazine

Dealing with Emergencies

Emergencies Happen Anytime, Anywhere—Be Ready When They Do

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