Developing A Safety Plan

Safety is one of our top priorities!  Parents and caregivers strive to teach their children the appropriate skills necessary to stay safe in various environments and situations.  As a parent or caregiver of an individual with autism safety is an even bigger concern, as the majority of individuals with autism don’t recognize the typical unsafe situations that others may recognize.  “Children with ASD may exhibit a common set of characteristics that naturally make them more susceptible to danger. For instance, people with ASD commonly have no real fear of dangers and an apparent insensitivity to pain. An inappropriate response—or no response at all—to sound is another common characteristic that could open the door to danger” (Safety Article, 2018).  

Parents should not have to live in constant fear of going out or doing something fun due to their child’s safety concerns.  This blog post is designed to help provide you with tips and tricks that can help your family develop safety plans and plan for safety ahead of time.  Planning ahead of time can help to alleviate some of the stress and anxiety you may be feeling during certain situations.

An initial first step to staying safe is to create a family safety plan.  “A safety plan should include key participants - school personnel, daycare providers, neighbors, caretakers, and extended family; anyone involved in your network that has daily contact with the person at risk (Autism Speaks, 2019).  Safety plans are designed ahead of time so that everyone involved knows what to do once an unsafe situation occurs.  Safety plans are implemented as an antecedent or proactive strategy to the unsafe situations that may arise. The list below contains  important key factors that should be included in your safety plan.

1. Include all members of your child’s team in the safety plan.  This can include parents, siblings, teachers, neighbors, extended family, etc.  You want everyone involved in the child’s care to be aware of your plans ahead of time to set everyone up for success!

2. Brainstorm all the places in which your child needs to be safe.  Examples may include: school, home, outdoor venues, etc. Develop proactive and preventative measures for each of these places.  Another great tip is to make sure that safety skills are included in your child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) so, the school district is on board as well.

3. Practice and role play the safety skills with your child!  Your children need to be explicitly taught these skills and it should not be expected that they should “just know” what is safe vs. unsafe.  Individuals with ASD benefit from frequently role playing situations and practicing in the natural environment so that the skills you teach them can be generalized to various situations.  As members of the individual’s team, we want to consistently model the appropriate skills and expected behaviors. As it was previously pointed out, individuals with ASD struggle with understanding vague concepts, and the idea that an unsafe situation could potentially cause them harm or injury.  Role play is an important step in helping to show the indivduals what is safe vs.unsafe.

4. Make sure your child carries personal identification on them especially in large public setting.  Having personal identification on them is also helpful for children who are non-verbal as they may not be able to answer specific personal questions about themselves.  In last week’s blog we listed different methods of identification that can be used. These include: Alert Me Bands, Autism ID Card, Amber Alert GPS, ICE4AutismApp, Kheelz: Ice Card and Medical Alert ID System For Children, and Temporary Tattoos.

5. Be your child’s advocate!  Contact local police stations, fire stations, 911 call centers, and community centers to let them know about your child’s safety plan. When places are aware of the safety plan ahead of time then, they are more likely to know what to do, and how to react if you and your family get into an unsafe situation.  

As your child grows, develops, and changes make sure to always update the safety plan to meet their needs.  Safety plans should continue to be updated regularly. We know that when we plan ahead of time and develop plans it can help reduce the stress and anxiety of these tricky situations.  No situation is “black and white” and we know that plans need to be altered and changed to meet specific individual needs. Safety is a top priority and we hope that these tips and tricks can help you and your family develop a plan of action!  Stay tuned in the upcoming blogs, as we will be discussing different indoor and outdoor situations, and ideas on how to stay safe in these scenarios.

References:

Creating Safety Plans for People with Autism. (2019). Retrieved from: https://www.autismspeaks.org/creating-safety-plans-people-autism

Keeping Your Child with Autism Safe (April 15, 2019). Retrieved from: https://www.safety.com/autism-safety/