Fire drill for (possibly) autistic child

[gef918]

I look after a 2 year old, who is showing some autistic traits - mum and I are monitoring at the moment. I have done a fire drill with him before and he was fine, however, threw a massive tantrum when we came back into the house - obviously thinking we had put shoes on to go out somewhere. He is normally very well behaved, but he does like to do things a certain way and will not co-operate at all if we change things, e.g. he has to wear a coat when he leaves the house (even in blazing sunshine). He's likely to run back into the house if we don't follow his routine.

I am going to do another drill next week, but I will have a 16 month old too this time, so I'm looking for ways to help him deal with a change in routine. Any advice?

[moggy]

A fire drill does not have to be carried out just like they do in schools. These are tiny children we are caring for, we can not expect them to be able to understand, remember and cope with something even 5+ year olds in school may struggle with.

The purpose is for you to make sure you can get these children out of the house if you need to. If that means doing your drill when you are about to go to the park anyway then that is fine.

If you sometimes do it by just thinking through every step in your head while you get them down stairs and out the door, and critically evaluate that yourself it is fine.

You can split it up into bits like trying the smoke alarm together and talking about what happens in an emergency.

Or just stop sometimes in the day and think through what would you do right now if you had to get out.

If there is a real emergency you will take control and just do what you have to do to get them out and if that means him having a tantrum as you carry him under your arm from a burning house you will just have to do it. You need to factor that in of course (so consider how many children/walking or not etc), but I would not keep recreating the event as that will be too stressful for him.

[charlottenash]

A little suggestion to go with moggys great idea:


Set 5 different alarms on your phone at very random times for the next week or 2 make sure their on different days. Don't plan the times! Literally put 12.14, 2.19, 4.18 etc When the alarm goes off, it will cause you to think what you would do at that exact moment if their was a fire, and you can document it for Ofsted explaining what you did.

[rickysmiths]

Some very good suggestions.

One observation, when you had the practice you said you put shoes on, why? If it was for real you would just get out. Forget shoes and coats unless you happen to go past them and then only just to grab them not to stop and put them on.

What i do. I have four doors out of the ground floor of my house. I have one main front and back door. I dump my keys in a basket in a cloakroom just next to the front door, I have my car key on the key ring with the back door key which sits in the top lock of the back door. I do try to keep my car key in my pocket if I can. If we have to get out of the back of the house the prefered exit is the back door and I get the car key and put the los in the car and if need be just drive out of the drive and park outside the house allowing room fro the emergency services to come in and keeping los in a safe environment even if they haven't got a car seat each.

I keep a bag in the boot of my car at all times I am minding. It has in it paper cups, a platex bottle with disposable liners, a carton of formula if I have a child of that age on my books at the time, a large bottle of water, biscuits, breakfast bars and some jar food and a spoon if I have a child of that age , nappies, wipes, bags and gloves. I have several pairs of socks for bare footed or wet footed children, I have in the boot of the car anyway at least one space blanket each and usually more. I always have at least one fleece blanket ( I have one for each child in the winter in case we brake down).

I know some minders have this 'emergency' bag by the door but if you have more than one place of exit this is not always practical and if you are carrying and helping young children in a panic situation you may not be able to pick it up.

I have my register by the back door where the los come and go from and would try to pick this up or my handbag with my emergency contact book is with the keys by the front door so that would be picked up. I have my phone on me at all times anyway.

I do check and rotate the consumables in the Emergency bag regularly.

My back gate has a combination padlock so I don't need a key for that.

If I didn't have a car I would consider putting an Emergency bag and kit in my front shed so I could get it easily and I might include a waterproof sheet to sit on and a few brollies and definitely more blankets etc so they could be kept warm.

[gef918]

Thanks for your replies.

Currently, when we do our drill, we go to the door, put on wellies, which are outside the front door and then walk to our neighbours house. I was trying to balance the need to leave the house quickly (in a real fire) with keeping children safe on the drill (don't want them stepping on stones in their bare feet).

My current drill has worked well for the children I care for (both approaching school age now), but I think I need to re-think how I do things for my new, younger mindees. I like the idea of random alarms on my phone to make me think about what I would do at that particular time.

Thanks