School Safety: Supporting Specific Populations

For students with complex communication needs, schools may be required to provide backup AAC systems, including medically prescribed speech-generating devices (SGDs).

Here are some helpful tips regarding the use of AAC systems and backup systems in the context of school safety:

• Ensure that these AAC backup systems include familiar low-tech boards and are easily accessible to the student and team.
• Explicitly teach students how to use their communication devices before and during safety drills. This ensures that they familiarize themselves with the system in the event of an emergency.
• Share similar boards with the family, friends, and personal community partners—to be used at home and in the community—to communicate with first responders in an emergency.
• Assign and train designated staff members to assist students who have complex communication needs during school safety drills and emergency events.
• Remember that those designated staff members must demonstrate proficiency with the AAC system and backup system for every student in their charge. This ensures that the designated staff member can successfully meet that student's individual needs as outlined in their IEP and integrated safety plan.
• Train staff to use backup devices and familiar low-tech supports during the school day—especially during emergency drills.

It's important to remember: Not all AAC users are non-speaking all of the time. This 2023 Perspectives article presents an example of a pediatric part-time AAC assessment through a case study.

Some students are oral communicators but have unreliable speech, unintelligible speech to unfamiliar communication partners, or experience receptive and expressive communication difficulties when stressed or in crisis. An emergency may impact any person's ability to communicate effectively, and it is critical that all people have access to AAC supports to ensure that they understand instructions and can express immediate needs.

In an effort to include such part-time AAC users in school safety plans, consider expanding access to communication supports to ALL students. In doing so, you'll give every student a means to communicate when oral communication is not available or accessible.

For example, see ASHA's webpage on Universal Design for Learning (UDL)—a set of principles for curriculum development. These principles give all students an equal opportunity to learn while also providing a blueprint for creating flexible, customizable instruction.

Resources to Support AAC Systems and Safety Planning

The following sites offer helpful resources on supporting AAC systems and enacting school safety plans:

• First-Responders' Checklist Helps Ensure Effective Communication
• Creating an Emergency Communication Board for First Responders
• The Professional's Role in Emergency Planning for People Who Use AAC
• School Safety Resources
• Communication Tools Archives

Individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing may have difficulty hearing audible alarms such as bells or loudspeaker/announcement systems. Alarms are intended to notify students and staff members to evacuate or take immediate action in an emergency. But, to be effective, an alarm must be capable of being perceived in the environment above ambient lighting and noise levels.

• Visual alarms use light to indicate an emergency and are ideal for alerting individuals with hearing loss of an emergency event.
• Visual alarms are also ideal for environments where there is reduced audibility.
• Strobe-light alarms are the only type of alarm to be recognized by the National Fire Prevention Association Signaling Code ® (NFPA 72) and to be identified in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards [PDF].
• If a strobe light is not available, consider instituting a protocol for flashing the classroom and building lights a certain number of times in a row—to signal a safety event or an emergency.

When implementing a safety plan, ensure that any information shared during an emergency—such as evacuation instructions and emergency plans—is made accessible to students and staff members who have hearing loss. Reevaluate safety plans annually: Pay attention to accommodations for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, understanding that these accommodations may change from year to year.