Table 4.
Recommendations for Communicating During Disasters with Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs
| Pre-event communication planning | ● Engage children and youth with special healthcare needs in disaster risk reduction planning to understand perceptions of risk, challenges28,31,33 ● Engage children and youth with special healthcare needs as disaster communication plans are being developed, to understand how they access and use resources31–33 ● Involve children and youth with special healthcare needs in drills and exercises32 ● Develop communication resources that are appropriate for age, developmental stage, and abilities, communication challenges28–32 ● Agree on warning signals for potential hazards and associated protective actions31,35 ● Agree on evacuation strategies and a plan for reunification, and ensure parents are aware that their children will be cared for during a disaster20,28 ● Use “social stories” to reinforce appropriate behaviors during disasters for children with autism or intellectual or developmental disabilities29 ● Encourage use of “in-case-of-emergency” communication tools by children who may not be able to communicate their needs during disasters29,35 |
| Communication during disasters | ● Use communication materials in different formats to reach children with physical, intellectual, hearing, and visual challenges: ○ Simple language and visual depictions of appropriate behaviors and response activities, including use of pictograms, communication boards, drawings, and photographs for children with intellectual disabilities26,29 ○ Large print, text messages with free voice-over applications, Braille, radio and audio announcements for children with visual impairments26 ○ Print, text messages, captions, and sign language interpretations for children with hearing impairments26,35 ● Integrate photographs, images of children and youth with special healthcare needs into disaster-related information, depicting children with disabilities among groups of children (rather than separated) and actively participating in appropriate response activities34 |