Teaching preschool children to avoid poison hazards.

We evaluated the effectiveness of group safety training and in situ feedback and response interruption to teach preschool children to avoid consuming potentially hazardous substances. Three children ingested ambiguous substances during a baited baseline assessment condition and continued to ingest these substances following group safety training. In situ feedback and response interruption resulted in a decrease in opening ambiguous containers; this decrease was maintained when ambiguous novel containers were presented and when assessments occurred in a novel setting and with a novel experimenter. For 2 children, these gains were also maintained during a brief follow-up period. Twelve children did not ingest ambiguous substances prior to training, and group safety training did not evoke inappropriate ingestion.