ABSTRACT
Childhood food allergies are prevalent in the United States and are considered a public health issue. Behavioral skills training (BST) and in situ training (IST) have commonly been used to teach children to engage in a variety of safety skills. One study evaluated the efficacy of BST and IST to teach typically developing children to identify and avoid food allergens by reading food labels. Similar research to teach children to avoid eating food allergens by asking an adult if their food is safe to eat has not been conducted. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of BST, and IST if necessary, to teach safety skills to children to avoid food allergens. The target behavior was to refuse the food, leave, and ask a parent if the food was safe when presented with an unknown food item. The results showed that BST was effective in teaching two of the participants the safety response, while one participant required BST and IST to engage in the complete safety response. These results suggest that BST alone can be effective in teaching safety skills to children, although IST may be needed for some children to learn safety skills.