Hello Everyone,
While efforts to improve disaster planning for individuals with disabilities is improving, there are still many areas that are not often considered when making a disaster plan. As a pediatric OT, I have found that many families do not plan to support their child’s sensory processing needs during an evacuation. As a result, sensory processing challenges can become barriers to a family’s ability, or perceived ability, to evacuate.
To address these needs, I created a Sensory Safe Evacuation Planner. It helps a parent or individual to consider how sensory processing challenges and differences might present in an evacuation location (e.g., government or local shelter, hotel, relative’s home) and to make a plan to support sensory needs in this location. My greatest hope is that by talking about this, sharing this resource, and helping families and individuals prepare for a natural disaster that we are able to empower and enable them to seek safety.
The Sensory Safe Evacuation Planner is available at no cost to download, use, and share at www.brainexecutiveprogram.com/sensory-safe-evacuation-planner . You will find a version that is applicable for a family or parent planning to support a child, as well as one for an adult planning for themselves. Please use and share with clinicians, families, individuals, and organizations as you feel appropriate. If you have any questions or if I can be of any service, please do not hesitate to contact me at kathryn@brainexecutiveprogram.com.
With great appreciation,
Kathryn Hamlin-Pacheco
