Teaching Safety Skills to Children: Prevention of Firearm Injury as an Exemplar of Best Practice in Assessment, Training, and Generalization of Safety Skills

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on teaching safety skills to children with an emphasis on recent research on behavioral skills training for the prevention of firearm injury. Following a discussion of safety skills and methods for assessing these skills, the paper reviews recent research on behavioral skills training and in situ training for teaching safety skills to prevent firearm injury. Strategies for promoting generalization and increasing the efficiency of training are then discussed, along with a summary of conclusions that can be drawn from the research and guidelines for best practices in teaching safety skills to children.