after school speech part 29

After SJ's disappearing act the other day, we decided to ask SJ's speech therapist for strategies for explaining stranger danger to him. She was kind enough to dedicate this week’s speech session to that. She's the best!

She made a visual diagram. The inner circle was titled "Safe People". She had SJ write in people he considered safe. He listed Mom, Dad, Bob, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandma, grandpa, teachers, friends and neighbors. She made a second visual diagram. The inner circle was titled "Strangers and Unsafe People". SJ wrote in people he considered unsafe. He wrote killers, bullies, prisoners and robbers.

She then gave SJ three scenarios. Number one was a man drives by and asks you for directions. Do you go to his car and give him directions? He circled no (the correct answer).

Number two was a woman loses her dog and runs up to you. She asks you to help her find her dog. Do you go with her? Initially, he answered yes (not the right answer). With some prompting and explanation from his therapist, he corrected his answer to no.

The third scenario was you are at a friend's house playing. A woman drives up and tells you that your mom sent her to pick you up. She even knows your name, even though you don’t know her. Do you go with her? Again, he initially answered yes (oh no, the wrong answer again!). She explained to him that just because a person knows your name that doesn't make them a safe person. She told him he should go into the friend's house and ask her if she knows the lady.

My husband and I felt a little guilty that we hijacked the session with our own agenda, but we didn't realize how vulnerable SJ is to these potentially dangerous situations. We will continue to talk to him each night about these situations. Hopefully, we won't scare him out of talking to every stranger, but make him aware enough to keep him safe.