Safety skills instruction should be regarded as one of the important teaching areas. A descriptive study was designed to reveal the opinions of Turkish parents and teachers of children with autism spectrum disorders regarding safety skills instruction. Data were collected through interview and analyzed descriptively. Findings showed that (a) both parents and teachers were able to define safety skills, (b) they found safety skills instruction important and necessary, (c) rather than providing systematic instruction they use natural occurrences as teaching opportunities and prevention behaviors, (d) parents have never had a conversation with teachers about safety skills instruction, and (e) neither parents nor teachers have enough knowledge and experience for teaching safety skills. Implications for implementing safety training are discussed.

We conducted a descriptive analysis of single-case research design (SCRD) studies on safety skills instruction (SSI) for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Once we identified studies through electronic databases and reference lists, we used What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Standards to evaluate each study. We analyzed studies in terms of various descriptive variables, calculated effect sizes through improvement rate difference (IRD), and aggregated effect sizes across studies to produce an omnibus effect size. Results showed 18 of 29 studies met the WWC Standards to meet design standards (MS) and meet design standards with reservations (MS-R), and various types of SSI were effective in teaching various skills. Of 18, 12 studies resulted in a large effect, and we found a behavioral skills training package (BST) to be evidence-based when we applied a 5-3-20 rule. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

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