Teaching safety skills for emergency situations to autistic individuals: a rapid literature review 

Emergency situations are unexpected events that pose a threat of serious and immediate risk to safety. Difficulties in social communication and restricted behaviour mean that some autistic individuals may be vulnerable to harm during these events. However, skills can be taught to minimise this risk and increase the likelihood that autistic people can respond safely to such situations. This rapid review identified empirical studies teaching emergency related safety skills to autistic children and adults. Studies were assessed for quality against the What Works Clearinghouse standards. Forty studies were identified, with 143 autistic individuals (mean age 9.3 years, range 3–25 years) across 10 scenarios. A wide range of teaching methodologies were used, e.g., Behaviour Skills Training. Interventions that taught skills in the actual environment (in-situ) were most effective. Overall, the findings indicate positive outcomes in acquisition, generalisation and maintenance of skills. However, over half of the studies did not meet minimum quality standards, gaps remain in the range of scenarios addressed, and there is a notable scarcity of studies focused on skills acquisition for older autistic adults. There are opportunities to utilise technology-mediated environments such as Virtual Reality to teach skills in relation to events that are difficult to simulate.