An evaluation of computerized behavioral skills training to teach safety skills to young children.
A tablet cartoon plus two quick hallway drills teaches preschoolers to refuse strangers in under half an hour.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ellingsen et al. (2014) tested a faster way to teach safety skills to preschoolers.
Kids watched short cartoons on a tablet that showed how to say "No" and run from strangers.
After the videos, staff gave each child two quick practice trials in the hallway.
What they found
Every child learned to refuse strangers and did it again with new adults and new places.
The whole package took less than 30 minutes, beating the usual long BST sessions.
How this fits with other research
Dickson et al. (2017) ran classic BST for lockdown drills and also saw good results.
Both studies show brief BST works, just for different dangers.
Groom‐Sheddler et al. (2025) swapped the tablet for video self-modeling with autistic kids.
They still needed in-situ practice, proving the live trial piece is key across populations.
Why it matters
You can cut teaching time by letting the computer do the first pass.
Try a short cartoon plus two real-life rehearsals next time you teach safety.
It saves staff hours and still keeps kids safe.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Show a 5-minute safety cartoon, then walk the child to the lobby for two stranger-refusal practice trials.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of behavioral skills training (BST) and in situ training (IST) for teaching children to protect themselves. However, BST may be resource intensive and difficult to implement on a large scale. We evaluated a computerized version of BST (CBST) to teach safety skills and determined the extent to which safety skills generalized across different dangers. In Study 1, 11 children learned, via CBST and IST, to respond safely when asked to leave with a stranger. In Studies 2 and 3, IST was implemented with 16 children for 1 or 2 dangers after exposure to CBST for 3 dangers. Participants correctly self-protected from dangers after CBST and IST, and performance generalized to similar dangers for which participants did not receive IST. CBST may be an acceptable substitute for BST when combined with IST to improve efficiency and maintain efficacy in a comprehensive safety skills program.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2014 · doi:10.1002/jaba.105