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TEACHING HOME SAFETY AND SURVIVAL SKILLS TO LATCH‐KEY CHILDREN: A COMPARISON OF TWO MANUALS AND METHODS
Author(s) -
Peterson Lizette
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.1984.17-279
Subject(s) - generalization , psychology , anxiety , key (lock) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , computer science , mathematical analysis , mathematics , computer security
I evaluated the influence of two training manuals on latch‐key children's acquisition of home safety and survival skills. The widely used, discussion‐oriented “Prepared for Today” manual was compared with a behaviorally oriented “Safe at Home” manual. Data were scored by response criteria developed by experts and by parents' and experts' ratings of children's spontaneous answers. With both methods of scoring, three behaviorally trained children demonstrated clear and abrupt increases in skill following training in each of seven trained modules, and these increases largely persisted in real world generalization probes and at 5‐month follow‐up. Smaller and less stable increases in skill were found in the three discussion‐trained children across the seven modules; lower skill levels were also seen in real world generalization probes and at follow‐up. Neither group of children demonstrated skill increases in home safety areas that were not explicitly trained. Both training methods produced small decreases in children's self‐report of general anxiety and anxiety concerning home safety. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for cost‐effective training of latch‐key children.