ABA Inside Track – Episode 325: Safety Skills

Date: October 22, 2025
Hosts: Robert (Rob) Perry Crews, Diana Perry Crews, Jackie McDonald

Overview

This episode of ABA Inside Track dives into the vital, yet often overlooked, topic of safety skills training for children, especially those who are neurodivergent. The hosts discuss peer-reviewed research on effective methods for teaching safety-related behaviors—such as avoiding dangerous objects and responding to emergencies—using behavioral skills training (BST) and related interventions. They also examine recent studies, barriers practitioners face, best practice recommendations, and future directions in the field.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. What Are Safety Skills and Why Do They Matter?

• Definition & Relevance:
  • Safety skills help individuals respond appropriately to environmental hazards (e.g., guns, poisons, fires, abductions).
  • Incidents like traffic accidents, accidental poisonings, and accidental shootings are major threats to life, underscoring the importance of safety skills (05:55).
• Social vs. Physical Threats:
  • Safety can relate to physical environmental dangers (e.g., finding a firearm) or social dangers (e.g., sexual abuse lures, abductions).

2. Common Approaches: Informational vs. Active Training

• Informational Programs:
  • Merely telling or showing children safety rules, such as watching a cartoon, has minimal effectiveness. "They don't work. The informational programs… children don't engage in the skills," (07:45, Jackie).
• Behavioral Skills Training (BST):
  • Active, evidence-based approach involving rule instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback—shown repeatedly to be effective for most children.
  • Standard steps:
    1. Avoid the threat (don’t touch)
    2. Move away from the threat
    3. Tell a responsible adult
       "You can use that for anything... which is kind of nice." (08:27, Jackie)
• In Situ Training:
  • Real-world practice that occurs if BST alone is insufficient; practitioner gives feedback in the moment if the child fails the safety task (08:53-09:13).

3. Survey of Safety Skills Training in Practice

Article discussed: Bruni & Miltenberger (2024), Behavior Analysis in Practice

• Method:
  • Surveyed 853 BCBAs, BCaBAs, and RBTs (final sample: 695) primarily working with young, neurodivergent children in home settings (10:57-13:02).
• Findings:
  • Most recognized abduction, sexual abuse, poisonous substances, fire, and firearms as critical safety threats.
  • BUT: Very few reported their clients had the skills to actually respond to these threats: only 12-25% across scenarios (14:44-14:57).
  • 72% used behavioral interventions to teach poison safety; only 16% for firearms.
• Most Used Training:
  • BST was top (67%), followed by DTT, prompting, and (less supported) social stories (16:08).
• Barriers:
  • Major: Liability concerns (43%) and lack of expertise in BST.
  • Others: Prioritization of problem behavior, cultural concerns, perception that it’s the caregiver's job (17:55-18:15).

4. Deep Dives: What Does Effective Safety Skills Training Look Like?

(A) Gun Safety – Miltenberger et al., 2004

• Why Gun Safety?
  • Even today, accidental gun deaths in children remain a significant concern (141 children, U.S. 2021; 33:02).
• Training Process (23:21-29:59):
  • Multiple baseline design.
  • Children participate in a simulated situation with a (disabled) firearm.
  • BST is implemented: instructions, live modeling, rehearsal, and feedback, repeated until mastery (typically five perfect role-plays).
  • In situ assessment: If skills don’t transfer to the real environment, in situ training provided immediately.
  • Sometimes, tangible reinforcers (e.g., candy) added for those who don’t respond to BST/in situ alone.
• Effectiveness:
  • About half succeeded with BST alone, most with BST + in situ training, a few needed tangible reinforcement.

(B) Earthquake Safety – Kurt et al., 2024

• Context:
  • Teaches skills like "drop, cover, and hold on" during an earthquake and post-event evacuation (35:00-37:31).
• Methods:
  • Used video modeling (VM) instead of in-person BST for three children with ASD.
  • Video displayed actual steps in the participants’ classroom setting; video watched repeatedly with corresponding practice.
  • Steps included: drop down, cover head, hold onto table, line up, evacuate calmly (38:16-39:32).
• Findings:
  • All participants acquired skills after a variable number of video exposures (3-9), with decent generalization and short-term maintenance.

Noteworthy Discussion:

• Stop, Drop, and Roll as a Model:
  • The hosts recall practicing this fire safety routine in school as an example of effective (and memorable) safety BST: "We practice, too. Now that I…reflect on." (44:47, Diana)

5. Critical Features and Practice Recommendations

Article discussed: Bruni & Miltenberger (2022), Behavior Analysis in Practice

• Active Practice Is Key:
  • "Information only loses out. It does not prove to be as effective as those other types." (47:46, Diana)
  • Rehearsal + feedback must be included, whether through BST, in situ or VM.
• Generalization & Maintenance:
  • Train across settings and scenarios (multiple exemplars).
  • Collect data, probe for generalization, and plan for maintenance.
  • Most studies only assessed maintenance for 1–2 months, not long-term.
• Special Considerations:
  • More research needed for students with disabilities and on training parents or peers to teach safety routines.
  • Enhancements like prompting, tangible reinforcement, or VR can help where needed.

Memorable Quotes

• On Informational Training:
  "How come cartoons can make us buy toys but they can't teach us to not like touch things that will kill us?" (07:37, Rob)
• On BST's Universality:
  "You can use [BST] for anything... guns, poison, abduction, sexual lures…" (08:27, Jackie)
• On Making Training Fun and Memorable:
  "Stop, drop, and roll... kids love to fall on the ground and roll all over the place." (44:51, Rob)
• On Barriers:
  "The biggest barrier was concerns about liability, which is 40, 43%, which is huge." (17:55, Jackie)
• On Best Practices:
  "If you want to teach a safety skill, you should plan to have it include rehearsal and feedback." (48:16, Diana)

Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:13 – 03:39: Introduction, episode theme, and rationale for focusing on safety skills.
• 05:55 – 09:48: Overview of common threats, definition of BST and in situ training.
• 13:01 – 18:15: Survey study—how safety skills are taught, practitioner demographics, barriers.
• 23:20 – 32:00: Details of BST and its application for gun safety.
• 35:00 – 43:44: Earthquake safety skills, video modeling methods, and teaching steps.
• 46:04 – 52:59: Review of critical features, practice recommendations, research gaps.
• 53:52 – 54:43: Past episodes on the topic ("pairings").
• 54:43 – 56:24: Light-hearted discussion of poisonous "snacks" (illustrating poison safety).

Takeaways and Recommendations

• Practice and Feedback Matter: Never rely solely on informational programs; require active participant rehearsal with feedback.
• In Situ Training Is Critical: Realistic, real-life (as much as possible) practice increases the likelihood of correct response in an actual dangerous situation.
• Data and Generalization: Always collect data, assess generalization across contexts, and plan for maintenance; use multiple exemplars.
• Tangible Reinforcement and Enhancements: May be necessary for some learners, especially if BST and in situ alone are not effective.
• Parent/Peer Training and Accessibility: More research and practical resources needed to empower caregivers, teachers, and peers as effective safety skills trainers.
• Special Populations: Enhanced teaching procedures (prompting, reinforcement, modeling) are often necessary for children with disabilities.

For Further Exploration

Related episodes:

• #194 Abduction Prevention
• #132 Component Analysis of BST
• #15 Tech & Safety Skills with Dr. Vanslow
• #25 & #93 Virtual Reality for Safety Skills

Summary prepared by ABA Inside Track Podcast Summarizer