Identifying Common People (Community Helpers, Family, Friends, and Strangers), Functional Community Signs, and Safety Symbols

Children with ASD can find the long-term goal of  identifying people and labeling things (i.e., signs, symbols, objects) difficult to master. This particular long-term goal is a valuable skill for many reasons. For example, this ability to identify important people and things could be helpful in the event your child strays from your side or finds themself in an unfamiliar situation. In order to help your child master the long-term goal of identifying people and labeling things, you can work with your child on short-term goals of identifying common people, community helpers, family, friends, and strangers, and labeling functional community signs and safety symbols. These short-term goals are a valuable step in expanding your child’s vocabulary and will help them to identify and prioritize important things and people in their communities. Importantly, being able to identify people and things is also a vital skill for your child’s well-being and safety.

The following strategies may help your child make progress towards mastering the long-term goal of identifying common people and labeling functional community signs and safety symbols:

• Use prompts. Prompts can be used to help your child learn to identify any person and label any item (object, place, etc.). For example, to teach your child to identify a police officer, first show your child a picture of a police officer. Next, ask your child to identify the person in the photo. You can ask something like “Who is this?” If your child does not respond, prompt them by naming the individual in the photo: “Is this a police officer?” If your child responds correctly, give encouragement and praise. If your child does not respond correctly, re-start the process. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.
• Practice in a naturally occuring setting. After your child has correctly identified a person or labeled an item (object, place, etc.) while practicing tacts, apply the lessons in the child’s daily routine. For example, if the child has recently learned to correctly label a stop sign, prompt them to point out a stop sign when you pass by one, such as when you and your child are out on a walk or in the car or on the bus, etc. Provide encouragement or praise if your child labels the stop sign correctly. Alternatively, you can also offer a reinforcer. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.
• Avoid prompt dependence. Once you think your child is ready, you can practice identifying common people or labeling signs without a prompt. To practice tacts without a prompt, use the Object Only technique. When you see something, such as a caution sign, point the object out to your child, whether it be in a video or when outside. Do not ask your child to label the object. Instead, wait for them to say the name of the object independently. If they do not say the name of the object, instruct them to “Say [name of object].” Continue practicing until your child has named the object without a verbal prompt. Provide positive reinforcement, praise, and encouragement. This may be in the form of verbal praise (Saying, “Good job!” or something similar) and/or offering a preferred item as a reward. Phase out the positive reinforcement when the skill has been sufficiently acquired. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.
• Perform a discrete trial. Gather pictures of common people that your child should know (i.e., a police officer, a firefighter). Of those pictures, place three in a row in front of your child. One picture should be the target response and the other two will serve as distractors. Then ask your child to identify the target response (i.e., “Who is the firefighter?”). If your child makes a mistake, quickly present the question again and use the appropriate prompt level to guide your child to the correct response. Only provide reinforcement if the correct response was independently chosen. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement. Performing a discrete trial can be done with pictures of common people as well as done with pictures of community signs or safety symbols.
• Other Resources

• Pictures of community Helpers: Grade Level Worksheets | A Wellspring of Worksheets
• Pictures of community signs: Slide01.png (lifeskillsprogram.net)
• Community Helpers Songs: YouTube Playlist
• Let’s Explore! Safety Signs: https://youtu.be/ZlAMQQ-OolM 
• Traffic signs: Traffic signs worksheets (eslprintables.com)‍
• Flashcards: 177 FREE People Flashcards in English | 4 Printable PDFs (kids-flashcards.com)

For the short-term goal of identifying community helpers, you can choose a target such as identifying firefighters, police officers, medical doctors, paramedics, school crossing guards, etc.

Identifying Community Helpers

Step 1: Decide what  common people that you would like your child to practice identifying. For example, you can choose the target of identifying firefighters  while working on the short-term goal of identifying common community figures/helpers. Select two pictures as follows: one picture of a firefighter and one picture of a non-firefighter community helper (e.g., a school crossing guard).

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a picture (i.e., a picture of a firefighter) and a verbal SD (i.e., “We are going to find the picture of the firefighter!” or “Where is the firefighter?”).

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt to independently identify the common person that you prompted for. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. For example, you can count how many times within a given time interval (e.g., 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, etc.) your child was able to independently identify the person you prompted for. Alternatively, you can count how many times in a row your child is able to independently identify the person you prompted for. Once your child can consistently and independently identify a picture of a firefighter n (3, 4, or 5 times in a row), you can increase the number of pictures to be identified.  For example, you can use 6 pictures where 4 are not emergency responders, 1 is a police officer, and 1 is a firefighter.

Step 4: To begin a trial for monitoring progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of identifying a firefighter), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item such as a small snack or a token for a token board ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child's positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, you can show your child the image of the firefighter along with an image of a different community helper (e.g., a police officer), point to the image that you prompted for, and say “This is a firefighter.” You can then point to the image of the police officer and say “This is not a firefighter.”

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many times in a row your child can meet the target of identifying a firefighter independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to meet the target of identifying the firefighter independently. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at identifying the firefighter during a session.

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of identifying a firefighter by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at identifying the firefighter over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can identify the firefighter, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of identifying family members, you can choose a target such as identifying an aunt, identifying an uncle, identifying a grandparent, etc. 

Identifying Family Members

Step 1: Decide which family member that you would like your child to practice identifying. For example, you can choose the target of identifying Aunt Molly while working on the short-term goal of identifying family members. Select two pictures as follows: one picture of Aunt Mollyand one picture of another family member that is not Aunt Molly.

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a picture (i.e., a picture of Aunt Molly) or a verbal SD (i.e., “Which person is Aunt Molly” or “Let’s find Aunt Molly!”).

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt to independently identify the family member that you prompted for. This baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. For example, you can count how many times within a given time interval (e.g., 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, etc.) your child was able to independently identify the family member you prompted for. Alternatively, you can count how many times in a row your child is able to independently identify the family member you prompted for. Once your child can consistently and independently identify a picture of a common person (3, 4, or 5 times in a row), you can increase the number of pictures to be identified. For example, you can use 6 pictures where 2 are of Aunt Molly, and 4 are of other family members that are not Aunt Molly.

Step 4: To begin a trial for monitoring progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of identifying Aunt Molly), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item such as a small snack or a token for a token board ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child's positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, you can show your child the image of Aunt Molly and say, “This is Aunt Molly.” 

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many times in a row your child can meet the target of identifying the picture of Aunt Molly independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to meet the target of identifying the picture of Aunt Molly independently. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at identifying the picture of Aunt Molly during a session.

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of identifying Aunt Molly by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at identifying the picture of Aunt Molly over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can identify the picture of Aunt Molly, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of identifying friends, you can choose a target such as identifying a friend from school, identifying a friend from sports, or identifying a friend from a class or activity. 

Identifying Friends

Step 1: Decide which friend that you would like your child to practice identifying. For example, you can choose the target of identifying a friend from art class while working on the short-term goal of identifying friends. Select two pictures as follows: one picture of the friend from art class and one image of a stranger.

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a picture (i.e., a picture of the friend from art class) or a verbal SD (i.e., “Who is your friend from art class?” or “Let’s find your friend from art class!”).

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt to independently identify the friend that you prompted for. This baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. For example, you can count how many times within a given time interval (e.g., 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, etc.) your child was able to independently identify the friend you prompted for. Alternatively, you can count how many times in a row your child is able to independently identify the friend you prompted for. Once your child can consistently and independently label a picture of the friend you prompted for (3, 4, or 5 times in a row), you can increase the number of pictures to be identified.  For example, you can use 4 pictures where 1 is the friend from art class, and 2 are images of strangers, and 1 is an image of a family member.

Step 4: To begin a trial for monitoring progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of identifying the friend from art class), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item such as a small snack or a token for a token board ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child's positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, you can show your child the image of their friend from art class, and say “This is your friend from art class.”

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many times in a row your child can meet the target of identifying the picture of the friend from art class independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to meet the target of identifying the picture of the friend from art class independently. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at identifying the friend from art class during a session.

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of identifying the picture of the friend from art class by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at identifying the picture of the friend from art class over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can identify the picture of the friend from art class, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of identifying strangers, you can choose a target such as identifying strangers vs. community helpers (i.e., police officers) at the park, identifying a stranger vs. a friend, or identifying strangers vs. non-strangers (i.e., teachers) at school. 

Identifying Strangers

Step 1: Select the strangers that you want to practice with your child to identify. For example, you can choose the target of identifying strangers vs. a police officer in the park while working on the short-term goal of identifying strangers. Select 2 pictures as follows: a picture of a police officer and a picture of a stranger your child has never seen.

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as the image of a stranger your child has never seen, or a verbal SD (“In the park, which person is the stranger?” or “Let’s find which person is the stranger!”).

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt to independently identify strangers in the park for which you prompted. This baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. As an example, you can count how many times in a row they independently identify a picture of a stranger in the park. Alternatively, you can count how many times they independently identify a picture of a stranger in the park in a given time interval (e.g., 5 min, 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour, etc.). Once your child can consistently and independently identify a picture of a stranger in the park, you can move to teaching the skill of identifying a picture of a stranger within 1 minute.

Step 4: To begin a trial for monitoring progress towards meeting the target (i.e., identifying strangers in the park), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt to independently identify the image of a stranger. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item such as a small snack or a token for a token board ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child's positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, you can show your child the image of a stranger and a police officer of the park, point to the image of the stranger and say, “This person is a stranger and is unsafe.” This can be followed by pointing to the image of the police officer and saying “This person is a police officer and is safe.”

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many times your child can independently meet the target of identifying a picture of a stranger. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to meet the target of independently identifying a picture of a stranger. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at identifying a picture of a stranger during a session.

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of identifying a picture of a stranger by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at identifying a picture of a stranger over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of images your child can identify as being images of strangers, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of labeling functional community signs and safety symbols, you can choose a target such as labeling stop signs, do-not-enter signs, school signs, etc. 

LabeIing Functional Community Signs and Safety Symbols

Step 1: Decide what community signs and safety symbols you would like your child to learn to label. For example, you can choose the target of labeling stop signs while working on the short-term goal of labeling functional community signs.

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a picture (i.e., a picture of a stop sign) and a verbal SD (i.e., “Which is the stop sign?” or “Let’s find the stop sign!”). 

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to independently label the community sign that you prompted for. This baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. As an example, you can count how many times within a given time interval (e.g., 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, etc.) your child was able to independently label the stop sign. Alternatively, you can count how many times in a row your child is able to independently label the stop sign. Once your child can consistently and independently label the community sign or safety symbol (3, 4, or 5 times in a row), you can increase the number of pictures to be identified. For example, you can use 6 pictures where 4 are random images (trees, a table, a chair, etc.), 1 is a stop sign, and 1 is a “do not enter” sign.

Step 4: To begin a trial for monitoring progress toward meeting the target (i.e., the target of labeling a stop sign), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently.  When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item such as a small snack or a token for a token board ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child's positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, you can show your child images of a stop sign and a “do not enter” sign, point to the stop sign and say “This is a stop sign.” 

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many times your child can independently meet the target of labeling a stop sign. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to meet the target of independently labeling a stop sign. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at labeling a stop sign during a session.

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of labeling a stop sign by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at labeling a stop sign over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can label a stop sign, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.