The "Safe at Home"Game

Abstract

Eight children who were occasionally left without parental supervision received training in the following areas: (1) how to react to the emergencies of a fire, a cut hand, and a tornado; (2) how to respond to strangers who come to the door or call on the telephone; and (3) how to select nutritious, safe snacks and optimal after-school activities. The subjects played the "Safe at Home" game, which allowed them first to discriminate correct from incorrect responses portrayed on cards; the cards were then phased out as the children progressed from recognition to recall learning. The subjects demonstrated acceptable but not optimal baseline levels of selecting snacks and after-school activities, and showed dangerously inadequate responses to emergencies and strangers. Following sixteen training sessions, children responded to all seven of the training areas at near-optimal levels. One year after training had ceased, the five children who could be contacted continued to show optimal responses to selecting snacks and after-school activities, and acceptable but not optimal responses to encountering strangers. Responses to emergencies were less acceptable but still superior to baseline responding. After less than two hours of review training, children demonstrated near-optimal responding on all seven training areas. The cost effectiveness of this treatment program for high-risk children is described.

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