Emergency-Response Skills Training

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) may experience elevated levels of accidental injuries due to deficits in cognitive, adaptive, or other developmental domains. Safety skills training may help reduce risk of harm and improve independence for individuals with IDD. As such, safety skills are often a treatment priority for caregivers; however, these skills may be neglected in curricula for individuals with IDD. While these skills may not be practiced on a regular basis, they may be lifesaving in the event of an emergency and should be prioritized in treatment. Safety skills include both proactive skills that prevent exposure to risk and reactive skills used in response to emergency situations. This chapter focuses on emergency-response skills and reviews intervention evaluation research that targets first-aid skills, fire safety, seeking help when lost, and making emergency calls in children, adolescents, and adults with IDD. Overall, this body of research demonstrates that emergency-response interventions can effectively increase target skills in individuals with IDD, with skills generalizing to novel stimuli and maintaining over time. Clinical recommendations for practitioners are provided.