Consider the following objective:
Upon arrival at a street corner, Joey will cross the street safely 4 out of 5 trials for four consecutive weeks.
Hopefully the most significant problem with this objective jumped out at you immediately. Safety is ALWAYS 100%. Every time.
When working with either a child or adult with developmental or mental health disabilities, you can never leave safety to chance. You much include and incorporate into your plan how you are going to assure safety 100% of the time.
Let’s say for example you want Joey to stop at the stop sign, look both ways before starting to cross and only crossing when there is no oncoming traffic and the street is safe. There are a number of critical issues you must consider.
1. Is this a practical objective for Joey? Is Joey ever going to be able to traverse the streets on his own? And if not…
2. Is there a practical reason to work on this objective in a way to make it safer for Joey, while a responsible and capable family member or friend accompanies him on walks? If not, perhaps this isn’t an appropriate objective in the first place.
3. If it is determined that this is a practical and reasonable objective, what is the crisis/safety plan to assure that Joey remains safe? Is someone able to walk and stay right beside Joey and if he starts to cross before he should or in a place where he shouldn’t, is this person able to quickly and easily stop Joey from crossing or doing something unsafe? Safety is and must be 100% when working with individuals with disabilities.
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