fire drills upset ds....advice?
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fire drills upset ds....advice?
| Sun, 02-19-2006 - 10:18pm |
Hello Everyone,
My son attends a special needs preschool and the monthly fire drills upset him. They are announced over the loudspeaker five minutes before they occur. His teachers have mentioned the problem, but not suggested any strategies. I am going to try and write a social story for the first time. I checked our public library for books, found one about Arthur and the fire drill. Does anyone have any other ideas? I also thought maybe they could teach him to cover his ears and self soothe by repeating a phrase like "Fire drills are ok".
Another "issue" ds has is staying seated/focused during group time. He responds to reminders but then pops up again a few minutes later. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Chrissy

Wow, monthly fire drills seem pretty extreme....I work in
The children are seated in small chairs during circle. I wonder if it would help if his chair was right next to the teacher.
I almost think if the teacher was announcing the drill throughout the morning it would make ds more anxious. I think it is the noise that scares him. The anticipation is almost worse than the actual event.
Chrissy
My son hates fire drills as well. The loud, unexpected noise scares him. He is allowed to put in ear plugs when they give the verbal warning that they are testing the fire drill. See if that might help.....
Christie
I was thinking earplugs and a social story too. Perhaps even practicing the drill without the noise a few times. I once read a story/post from an adult with AS in college who went through a fire drill. The noise was so all consuming that it made it hard to know what she was supposed to do to get out of the building. Plus she didnt know if it was a drill or real, etc. The noise just sent her anxiety into horrible places and she nearly shut down. Some suggestions she was given was to have a plan in place and practiced so it was routine without the extra noise, to ask to be warned when drills were to happen so she could prepare herself, and to keep a set of earplugs around for when they occured to drown out some of the noise. She thought all those would help.
As for seated at circle there are a few things they can try. One is a visual reminder like a card for him to hold. "Power Cards" are great for that kind of thing. They are like a mini social story on one card. He can have a star chart or something he holds and gets stamps for sitting nicely when he is caught being good. Then after so many stars or stamps he can earn a reward and she can slowly fade that out or make the stars less and less frequent, etc. And last, provide him with some sensory input during that time. Perhaps a fidget to hold or a disk-o-seat, or a weighted vest. What ever is the intervention that he needs to feel more focussed when sitting.
Renee
Hi Chrissy,
My DS hates fire drills too.