It’s very common for children with autism to not understand who a stranger is. Instead of pulling your kid away from strangers when it happens, let’s be proactive about it, and teach them prior to going out in public! Based on the level of receptive skills your child has, this may not work for every kiddo. If you are having trouble with this, ask your BCBA to make a personalized plan geared to help your child!
When you want to teach your child about the difference between strangers and friends, first teach them who is a safe stranger, a possibly dangerous stranger, and who their friends/family are. Talking to strangers is a life skill your child will need as they grow in order to socialize, be independent, and make friends.
To teach your child who a “safe stranger” is:
- Print out cards of all the community helpers they could possibly come in contact with such as crossing guards, firemen, bus drivers, librarians, grocery store workers, etc.
- Teach your child what he/she can say to these community helpers.
- Keep practicing this and reminding them these are safe strangers that want to help us!
- Tell your child it is okay to approach them in public if you ran into them.
To teach your child who safe family and friends are:
- Go through family photo albums and show pictures of talking to, sitting with, and hugging friends and family.
- Give many examples of people and label them as “family” and “friends.”
- Discuss the safe behaviors that he/she can do with family and friends such as go in a car, sit next to, give high five, hug, kiss, etc.
To teach your child who a “dangerous stranger” is:
- Now that you’ve taught your child many examples of who family, friends, and safe community helpers are, you can teach him/her that other people that are not those are strangers that we don’t know.
- Teach your child that he/she cannot walk up to, touch, or talk to people that are not either safe strangers or family and friends.
- I like to create a PowerPoint of clipart pictures you can find online. You will want to think of as many dangerous scenarios to teach them and how to find a safe person/call 911 as well. Some examples could be pictures of people telling them to get in their car or asking if they want candy.
The most important part is to talk with your child and reinforce their behavior when they show the right communication and behavior towards the right person!