Teaching home safety skills to children with autism spectrum disorders

Four preschoolers with autism learned to stay away from household chemicals. Their dads filmed six short videos at home. Each clip showed Dad saying "No, that's yucky" and walking away from cleaners.

The families watched the videos together. Then they practiced with real bottles of bleach, detergent, and dish soap. The kids never touched the chemicals during training.

Every child reached 100 % correct avoidance. They backed away, said "No," and told an adult. The skill stuck one month later. It also worked with new bottles and new rooms.

Celik et al. (2025) got the same result with a different method. They used Cool Versus Not Cool role-play instead of videos. Both studies hit 100 % success, so you can pick the style that fits your family.

Sureshkumar et al. (2024) also used video, but for first-aid skills like putting on band-aids. Their telehealth clips worked just as well, showing video teaching travels beyond the living room.

Kurt et al. (2019) taught abduction-prevention with Social Stories alone. Video modelling gave faster results here, yet stories still worked. Choice depends on time and materials.

You can teach chemical safety in one evening. Ask Dad to press record on his phone. Six 30-second clips plus a few practice runs can save a trip to the ER. No extra staff, no clinic visit, no cost.