Teaching developmentally disabled persons how to react to fires

The Fire-Alarm Game: Exit Training Using Negative and Positive Reinforcement under Varied Stimulus Conditions

Techniques for training a severely retarded blind client to exit his living unit during a fire drill without freezing, using a combination of negative and positive reinforcement dubbed the “Fire-Alarm Game” are described. Following a shaping procedure in which the opening of an exit door resulted in cessation of the alarm and then praise, the client learned to leave his living unit from any internal point through generalization training and subsequent test probes. Training was conducted in a relatively casual manner in an atmosphere of fun and good sport.