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Grades 4–5 · Home Alone Ready · Badge 4

Choking

Tell coughing from choking, call 911 for silent choking, and eat in a way that stops it happening.

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Step 1 of 9

1Watch

Two snacks

Film

Two snacks

Split screen. Left: a kid coughing hard over a grape, eyes streaming. Right: a kid gone silent, hands at her throat, mouth open. The film ends on the second face.

15 seconds

One of these is an emergency. It is the quiet one.

2The idea

Coughing is air moving

A hard cough means air is getting past whatever is stuck. That is good news. Stay with them, let them cough, do not hit their back: a thump can move the thing somewhere worse. No drink. Watch until it is out or they can talk normally.

Silent, cannot cough, cannot talk, going blue: that is choking, and it is a 911, immediately. Say someone is choking, your address, and do what the operator says. They will talk you through it, step by step, for the person in front of you.

3The idea

Why call, and not a technique

You may have seen the thing where somebody is squeezed from behind. The operator will tell you if, and how, on the phone, for this person, right now. That is better than anything you half-remember from a film. Your job is to notice the difference, call, and do what they say.

That is not a smaller job. Getting the call made in the first minute is the part that matters most. If it is you and you cannot breathe: call 911 anyway and leave the line open. They send help to an open line.

4The idea

Prevention beats all of it

Sit down to eat. Nearly all choking at this age happens walking about, laughing, or talking with a mouthful. Round food, grapes, cherry tomatoes, hot dogs, gets cut lengthways into strips. No hard sweets, nuts or popcorn for little ones.

Amir is doing grapes for his sister. He cuts them lengthways, sits her at the table, sits with her. She laughs mid-grape and coughs. He waits. Does not thump her. The grape comes out. Prevention is the part that is actually in your hands, and it works.

5Try it

Coughing or choking?

Interactive

Three scenes

Three short clips. After each, tap Coughing or Choking. The page then shows the one thing that told you: sound, or no sound.

Listen before you look. The one you can hear is the one who is all right.

6Decide

Your brother is coughing hard, eyes streaming, over a bit of apple.

Right. Coughing is his body doing the job. Your job is to watch it work and be ready if it stops. If the cough stops and he goes quiet, that is the moment the phone comes out.

A cough is air moving, and air moving is what you want. A slap can push the apple somewhere worse. Water gives him a second thing to choke on. Stay, watch, and let the cough do its job.

Pick one to carry on.

7Say it

The sentence for the operator

Say it, then your address, from memory

“Someone is choking and can't breathe.”

Six words and an address. The operator takes it from there.

8Find them

Which of these mean call 911 now?

Tap the ones that count.

Find all 4.

9Do it

Before you leave this page

Sit down for one whole snack, start to finish, no walking about. Count how many times you wanted to get up.

Tick it when you have done it.

Lesson done.

Coughing hard means air is moving: stay and let them cough. Silent, cannot cough, going blue: 911, now.

Take the Badge Challenge

Badge 4 · Feeding Yourself

4.1Cold food is your friend 4.2Things that get hot 4.3Knives 4.4Choking ★Badge Challenge

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