Teaching Safety Skills to High School Students With Moderate Disabilities

Abstract

Teaching students with disabilities to respond appropriately to potentially dangerous situations is a useful skill that has received little research attention. This investigation taught 3 students with moderate mental retardation to remove and discard broken materials (plates, glasses) safely from (a) a sink containing dishwater, (b) a countertop, and (c) a floor. A 4th student was instructed on the sink task only. A multicomponent treatment package was used to teach the skills. Simulated materials were used initially and were replaced with broken plates and glasses. A multiple probe design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment package. The results indicated that the treatment package was effective in teaching the skills. Data were collected 1 week and 1 month following the completion of training, and indicated mixed results. No student was injured during any phase of training. Issues pertinent to teaching safety skills to students with moderate disabilities are discussed.

Constant and Progressive Time Delay Procedures for Teaching Children with Autism: A Literature Review

“…Of the 10 reports on CTD, there were 4 treatment packages that combined time delay with other instructional procedures (Dipipi, Jitendra, & Miller, 2001;Gardill & Browder, 1995;Morse & Schuster, 2000;Winterling, Gast, Wolery, & Farmer, 1992), and one comparison of CTD with the system of least prompts (Ault, Wolery, Gast, Doyle, & Eizenstat, 1988). Three of the twelve studies compared the effectiveness of the PTD procedure with other instructional procedures, including the system of least prompts strategy (Godby, Gast, & Wolery, 1987), a visual fading procedure (Matson, Sevin, Box, Francis, & Sevin, 1993), and the most-to-least instructional strategy (Heckaman, Alber, Hooper, & Heward, 1998).…”

“…Winterling et al (1992) did not specify which of the four participants was identified with ASD, so data from this study are presented separately under each analyzed variable, since we know that at least one of the participants was diagnosed with ASD or autistic-like behaviors. From the 16 participants, 10 were male and 5 were female.…”

“…From the 16 participants, 10 were male and 5 were female. In Winterling et al (1992), two males and two females received instruction. Eight participants were functioning in the moderate cognitive range (IQ = 40-55), six were functioning in the severe and profound intellectual range (IQ < 40), and one was functioning in the mild cognitive range (IQ = 55-70).…”

“…Eight participants were functioning in the moderate cognitive range (IQ = 40-55), six were functioning in the severe and profound intellectual range (IQ < 40), and one was functioning in the mild cognitive range (IQ = 55-70). The participants in Winterling et al (1992) study were functioning in the moderate range of intellectual disabilities. Eight participants were adolescents (12-18 years), six were elementary-aged students (6-11 years), and one young adult 21 years old.…”

Barriers to Independent Living for Individuals with Disabilities and Seniors

“…The barriers identified for individuals with disabilities included safety and skill deficits, two areas that may benefit from targeted skills training. There is a great deal of behavior analytic research demonstrating the effectiveness of available methods to teach self-help and safety skills (e.g., Bannerman et al 1991;Batu et al 2004;Taylor et al 2004;Winterling et al 1992). We recommend that practitioners consult previous research to guide their intervention efforts and focus on training the necessary skills and safety behaviors that improve an individual's ability to live independently, as appropriate.…”