It's September but on the Gulf Coast it's all about Hurricane Season. We get excited about Fall and in a way forget it's Hurricane prep time. This blog is going to focus on what you need to do to prepare your child for such an emergency. Currently as I am typing this Hurricane Florence is knocking on the door of North Carolina. When the blog is published Florence will be weak and possibly nothing but a storm. And we ourselves have already been through the first Hurricane of the season.
Always have an extra large suitcase ready and packed just in case. If you choose not to go anywhere it's great for making sure your child is prepared in the event of the scary weather and a power outage. In this suitcase you want to make sure you have snacks, juices, water, baby wipes and other essentials that are important for the care and upkeep of your child.
The second most important to this package is charge away power boost. You can pick these up at Stables, Office Depot and even Walmart. They are normally $5.00 and well worth the investment in the event the iPad dies. I have two of these and will be investing in more later on in the future. One I have for my purse in the event my phone decides it's just not worth it to cooperate with battery life that day especially while I am teaching. That one I purchased from Michaels craft store during the holidays last year and I can charge an apple product and an android product at the same time.
You also want to make sure you have an old phone in the suitcase that works on internet access only. Here me out. If you can download a few games on this phone that you don't need internet access for that's the most important part. Minions are a favorite game in our household. Just make sure you fully charge the phones before a storm hits.
Craft activities are a complete must for packing. Try looking on Pinterest for crafts that will help with your child's development. Things for sorting, counting and hand eye coordination. Kinetic sand, playdoh, crayons or markers and lots of printer paper. Now is not the time to get technical over the type of art paper to use. Depending on how long your house is without power depends on the art or scribbles your kid makes. To keep all of the paper together I just use a large binder and take my time on hole punching the paper. My child might not keep the paper in the large three ring binder but that's okay. You can use velcro to attach the markers and or crayons to the binder to keep things together.
And most importantly an extra bottle of melatonin. If you are a parent that uses it to help your child's brain to slow down so they can sleep this is an important thing to keep an extra unopened bottle handy.
Always pack up all medications in a large gallon zip lock bag the day before a hurricane comes your way. Place this in the case the day you zip it up. That way you can find it when you need it. Place it in a zippered pouch and make sure it has two zippers to it. That way you can keep your child out of this section for their section by using a small lock that only you and your support system have the key or lock number of.
And just in case you need to evacuate on short notice make sure that your child has a pair of swim shoes in your case. And two pairs of extra clothes.
Children on the spectrum normally have to have a lot of things that keep them happy. Favorite toys, blankets and movies. It's not easy to deal with an emergency and autism but this will at least help to alleviate your autism stress.
For more on preparing for a hurricane that's not autism related check out the blog on jsncreative.com/blog
See you guys on the flip side!
