A Survey of Safety Skills Training Used by Behavior Analysts in Practice

The Science of Applied Behavior analysis is focused on shaping behavior which holds social significance (Cooper et. al, 2020) Autonomy is at the forefront of behaviors which are socially significant; however, with autonomy comes risk. It then becomes the responsibility of the ‘teachers’ to teach AND generalize what those risks might be, how to identify what might be considered unsafe behavior, and how to safely respond. Baruni and Miltenberger have each authored multiple articles on teaching safety skill to individuals diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders. Highlighted here is one of their most recent articles:

Baruni and Miltenberger, 2024 examined safety skills training used by behavior analysts in practice with their clients with neurodevelopmental disabilities. The article focused on five safety threats: abduction, sexual abuse, poisonous substances, firearms, and fire-starting agents. Survey respondents were asked to rate the importance of teaching their clients safety skills for each of these safety threats and included questions pertaining to the use of interventions such as behavioral skills training.

Parents and caregivers are responsible for minimizing exposure to safety threats of all kinds. This preventative approach, when utilized by parents, can minimize risk substantially; however, children must still be taught the skills to respond safely when encountering a risk in the natural environment. 

Most approaches which consist of instructions and modeling have been shown to be ineffective for teaching safety skills (Beck & Miltenberger, 2009, Gatheridge et al., 2004; Himle, Miltenberger, Gatheridge, & Flessner, 2004b). 

To increase adoptability and access to behavior analytic trainings for safety, the authors assessed the practices of behavior analysts and attempted to gain understanding of the current use of evidence-based practice to this type of safety skill training.

Methods

Participants in this study were board certified behavior analysts (BCBA), board certified assistance behavior analysts (BCaBA), and registered behavior technicians (RBT) whose job entailed developing, overseeing and or implementing behavior analytic programs for individuals diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders.  695 participants were included in the final analysis.

Participants were given a survey consisting of 27 selection-based questions and 1 free response question. Questions gathered information including demographics, consent, perceived importance of safety threats and reported client experiences, and current practices to teach safety skills.  One question was devoted to additional comments. Participants came from 20 countries with 88% of participants being male.

Results

Respondents rated the safety skills being taught in order of importance this way: 1. Abductions 2. Sexual abuse 3. Poisonous substance 4. Fire-starting agent 5. Firearm use and safety.

Training used by clinicans included interventions such as behavioral skills training 67%, discrete trial teaching- 55%. Prompt and prompt fading procedures-52%, tangible and highly preferred reinforcers-49%, video modeling, and behavioral skills training and in-situ training combined-42%.

There were also many barriers to using behavioral interventions including concerns about liability-43%, lack of expertise-41%, lack of time-36%, lack of approval from caregivers-24% and lack of space or materials -22% to name a few. 

Limitations

The authors indicated that the sample size was relatively small and most participants 89% were from the United States. They acknowledged that in-situ assessments and training were both extremely important for generalization and safe interactions, but the survey did not contain questions related to in-situ assessments.

The authors note that Future research could include assessing parent willingness to participate, incorporating a larger sample size, and exploring some of the barriers identified in the study.

Fortunately, studies on this topic continue to be completed and published, including the use of technology such as virtual reality to teach safety skills. 

Reference

Baruni, R. R., & Miltenberger, R. G. (2022). Teaching safety skills to children: A discussion of critical features and practice recommendations. Behavior analysis in practice, 15(3), 938-950.

Baruni, R. R., & Miltenberger, R. G. (2024). A Survey of Safety Skills Training Used by Behavior Analysts in Practice. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 17(1), 270-282.

Beck, K. V., & Miltenberger, R. G. (2009). Evaluation of a commercially available program and in situ training by parents to teach abduction‐prevention skills to children. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 42(4), 761-772.

Cooper, J.O., Heron, T.E., & Heward, W.L. ((2020). Applied Behavior Analysis, Third Edition. Pearson Education Inc.

Gatheridge, B. J., Miltenberger, R. G., Huneke, D. F., Satterlund, M. J., Mattern, A. R., Johnson, B. M., & Flessner, C. A. (2004). Comparison of two programs to teach firearm injury prevention skills to 6-and 7-year-old children. Pediatrics, 114(3), e294-e299.

Himle, M. B., Miltenberger, R. G., Flessner, C., & Gatheridge, B. (2004). Teaching safety skills to children to prevent gun play. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 37(1), 1-9.