We never want to think about our kids in danger. But part of being a parent, teacher, or coach is doing everything we can to protect our learners from harm. That includes teaching our students about potential safety risks and how to manage their safety.
Delving into safety skills is a primary part of teaching Daily Living Skills. It comes after we’ve already built a solid foundation of communication and executive functioning skills.
We start by teaching many of these safety skills at a young age and gradually fade out to independence as our learners start navigating home and community on their own.
However, learners with unique needs may require additional teaching, extra support, or specific interventions to master these basic safety skills. Gathering more information on the types of safety skills your teen needs to know is the first step in helping them be more independent.
Safety Skills Your Teen Needs to Know
How to respond to an emergency
While we hope that our teens never have to respond to an emergency, it’s better to prepare them as best we can. Kids and teens with unique learning needs may need extra support and practice to know what to do in an emergency, especially for learners where executive functioning skills need additional help. In addition, building working memory, problem-solving, and flexibility can support responding to a crisis.
When drafting goals, consider working on these skills to respond to an emergency:
- Identifying when an emergency is happening and different types of emergencies.
- Following an emergency safety plan for situations like a fire, tornado, or earthquake.
- Making a call to a first responder (i.e., 911)
- Describing information on a phone call.
- Following instructions while on a phone call.
- Using non-emergency contacts.
Basic Street Safety
When we think about daily living skills, many people think about navigating the community. Planning to master these basic street safety skills before working on community-based activities can make the experience more enjoyable and less stressful for everyone.
When drafting goals, consider working on these basic street safety skills:
- Walking on a sidewalk, path, or trail for a defined distance without getting distracted.
- What to do if there is no sidewalk.
- Exiting a car and crossing a parking lot.
- Using a crosswalk.
- Crossing a busy street without a crosswalk.
- Identification of basic traffic signs.
- If using a cell phone, how to use the device around streets safely. (removing headphones, looking both ways when crossing, looking up when passing others, etc.)
- What to do if you get lost.
Recognizing Home Safety Concerns
Being safe doesn’t just involve being out in the community. Teaching our teens how to be safe at home can help promote independence and protect them from various risks.
Consider working on home safety skills like:
- How to safely use the stove or oven.
- Using chemicals and cleaning products, including poison prevention.
- Using appliances properly, including electrical outlets, avoiding water, and burn prevention.
- How to prevent falls and tripping hazards.
- When to answer the doorbell when it rings.
Basic First Aid
If your teen does get a minor injury, teaching them how to respond to basic first aid scenarios safely can be a valuable life skill. We sometimes take for granted that learners know how to address a minor cut or scrape. Yet if parents and caregivers have always addressed injuries, a learner may not know how to handle basic first aid independently.
Basic first aid skills might include things like:
- How to locate a first aid kit and the function of each of the supplies inside.
- Treat different minor skin ailments like bug bites, scrapes, paper cuts, and sunburns.
- How to treat minor injuries like a twisted ankle or pulled muscle.
- What to do if they or someone else is choking.
- What to do if they or someone else has a significant injury (e.g., apply pressure, call 911, steps prevent shock, CPR, etc.)
For more first aid strategies, consider having your teen take a first aid class through the American Red Cross. Online options are available, and many Red Cross instructors have experience working with unique learners.
Safely interacting with pets and animals
If your teen enjoys spending time outdoors or in the community, chances are they’re going to encounter pets or wild animals. Yet, for many teens with unique learning needs, reading the non-verbal cues of animals can be just as tricky as reading the non-verbal cues of humans. As an avid hiker and backpacker, I’ve seen dozens of risky encounters between humans and animals on the trail that could have been avoided with basic animal safety skills.
Regardless of whether your teen encounters animals frequently, consider teaching these safety skills:
- Never approach an unfamiliar pet without carefully observing or asking permission first.
- If it is okay to approach a pet in the community, start with an open palm and move slowly. Teach your teen to read the non-verbal cues of animals.
- Never approach or feed a wild animal.
- Avoid interacting with pets (even your own) when eating, sleeping, in a crate, or caring for young.
- Avoiding pet waste and how to safely dispose of it if necessary.
For more information about teaching animal safety skills to your learners, check out this Animal League of America article.
Internet Safety
We likely could create an entire series on teaching teens to use the internet, social media, and apps safely. Managing the risks to our learners online only gets more complicated, so it needs to be a top priority for caregivers. Regularly having training sessions with your teen on online safety is the best strategy.
During internet safety sessions, consider targeting some of these prerequisite skills for teens:
- Standards for what your teen can and cannot do online.
- How to use password protection and two-factor authentication
- Values around private vs. public information and what’s safe to share.
- Discriminating malicious emails, popups, and malware attacks.
- Identifying and navigating cyberbullying
Google has created a full internet safety curriculum for kids and teens called Be Internet Awesome. It’s a valuable resource for parents and teachers who may not feel as comfortable navigating safety risks online.
How to Get Started with Teaching Safety Skills
After reviewing the info above, have you decided to start building your teen’s safety skills? Unsure where to start or how to know what skills your learner needs to work on the most?
We recommend a values-based approach, focusing on what matters most to you and your learner. It’s the best way to ensure that your teen makes progress on the critical skills to succeed.
Start by checking out our 6 Key Steps For Making Values-Based Decisions For Your Child’s Daily Living Skills.
Then download our free .pdf values-based assessment for safety skills. It will help you evaluate and decide how to start working on community, online, and home safety skills.
Further Reading
- American Red Cross – First Aid Courses
- Animal League of America – Kid and Pet Safety Rules
- Google – Be Internet Awesome Internet Safety Curriculum
- Life Skills Advocate Blog – 6 Key Steps For Making Values-Based Decisions For Your Child’s Daily Living Skills.
- Life Skills Advocate Blog – Why Building Communication is Key to Building Daily Living Skills