Teaching safety skills to students with moderate to severe disabilities

Autistic child practicing safety skills and wearing a life jacket.

Think back to when you were little…did your parent or guardian ask you to stay away from the stove or oven while they were cooking so that you didn’t get burned? Or, maybe they emphasized the importance of wearing a life jacket near the pool until you were a strong swimmer? Perhaps you can recall other teachable safety moments, whether at home or in school.

It goes without saying that learning safety skills is important for everyone, but it’s critical for students with moderate to severe disabilities. If these skills are not taught directly and systematically, they often will not be learned naturally.

Let’s tap into key safety skills that can be taught in the classroom and practiced in natural environments, as well as how you can teach them effectively.

Important Safety Skills to Consider Teaching

It’s safe to assume that as an educator, keeping your students out of harm’s way is one of your top priorities, right? Fostering safety skills in your classroom is one way to accomplish this.

Here are a number of safety skills that you can teach to your students:

  • Staying in a designated area (think about your students that may elope)
  • Checking to see if things are hot
  • Identifying dangerous or poisonous household items
  • Differentiating between a friend vs. acquaintance vs. stranger
  • Keeping the door shut and locked when a stranger knocks
  • Locating/using a first aid kit
  • Seeking help for serious cuts or injuries
  • Reporting smoke/fire and responding to fire alarms
  • Using sunscreen
  • Water safety
  • Washing hands and using hand sanitizer
  • Proper medication use and identification
  • Identifying emergencies and dialing 911
  • Crossing the street safely
  • And, more!

How to Teach Safety Skills

Now that we’ve outlined several safety skills that can be taught, let’s detail how you can teach them to your students.

The most effective evidence-based intervention for teaching safety skills to students with moderate to severe disabilities is Behavioral Skills Training.

Behavioral Skills Training can be broken down into four implementation steps:

  • Instruction: this first step will help assist the three steps that follow
    • This can include rationale for why the student is learning the skill, step-by-step instructions (think, task analysis), and examples and/or non-examples for each step
  • Model: in the second step, you’ll want to model each of the task analysis steps as you move toward skill mastery
    • Rehearsal/Roleplay: during the third step, you’ll want to have the learner rehearse the steps either independently or in a role play scenario
  • Feedback (to mastery): this is where you’ll want to provide feedback to the learner on each step they rehearsed
    • If the learner did not rehearse the steps to mastery, you will go back to the rehearsal step, and continue this rehearsal/feedback loop until the learner reaches skill mastery.

Behavioral Skills Training In Practice

Let’s take a look at how Behavioral Skills Training for a safety skill, like crossing the street, may look in practice:

  • Instruction: provide rationale for why you would want to cross the street safely, and then go over each step of crossing the street
    • A visual schedule may be helpful here
  • Model: model crossing the street safely
    • Point out each step on the visual schedule as you go
  • Rehearsal/Roleplay: have the student rehearse crossing the street safely
    • Allow them to use the visual schedule as needed
  • Feedback (not at mastery criteria): provide feedback as to which steps they rehearsed correctly, and which were incorrect
    • If the learner used the visual schedule, have them try again without the visual schedule
  • Rehearsal/Roleplay: have the learner rehearse crossing the street safely.
  • Feedback (not at mastery criteria): provide feedback as to which steps they rehearsed correctly, and which were incorrect
    • If the learner was not at mastery, have them try again
  • Rehearsal/Roleplay: have the learner rehearse crossing the street safely
  • Feedback (mastered): praise mastery.

Teaching safety in your classroom can help your students know what to do during dangerous circumstances. Just think, washing fruits and vegetables before they’re eaten, or recognizing the importance of wearing a seatbelt while a car is in motion, will stick with your students well beyond your classroom time with them!

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