Child Disability and Public Safety
Learning Phone Numbers and Other Identification
Having a child with a disability creates a mix of goals. While parents want their disabled children to be independent, it is easy to over protect them.
The activities of spring and summer are good reminders to review and practice basic safety.
Name
Obviously, children need to be able to tell their names (first and last). However, it is important for them to discern if a person should be told that information. If the child is separated from his parents at the mall, he needs to be able to tell the appropriate people who he is. If he is playing at the park with a parent nearby, he should not share that information with just anyone who asks.
Phone Numbers
Parents are often surprised that their children do not know their own phone numbers. This is not uncommon in certain age groups regardless of disability. It is crucial that kids be able to tell an appropriate adult how to contact their parents. Consider the following phone number tips with home phone or parents' cell phone numbers.
- Practice dialing a key number. Many children with special needs will start with just one key number.
- Have you ever been unable to think of a phone number that you call all the time? And yet, when you pick up the receiver of the phone you can easily dial the number. Remember that some children are visual learners. They can repeat the sequence of numbers on the phone when looking at the keypad.
- Others are tactile learners and may be able to know they are dialing correctly as their fingers move across the number keys.
- Still others may response to the tones of the familiar numbers as they are pushed.
If you are not sure that your child can remember his phone number, consider putting a card in his backpack, wallet, etc. with the information.
Address
Sometimes, it is important for children to know their address. (Although, this is somewhat more guarded information, like their full name.) You may wish to have your child practice writing his or her address on mail to someone in the family. As with the phone number, you may wish to add address information on a card that the child carries with him.
Child Find Safeguards
Although every parent hopes that unplanned separation from a child will not happen, it is sometimes a harsh reality. Many parents choose to participate in a child identification program that will assist public safety officials in the case of such as emergency. In the situation of a child with a disability, this precaution is even more important. Parents are encouraged to contact the local police department for information on recommended programs in their area.
