I am excited to introduce this week’s guest blogger, Jenn from Teach Love Autism. Jenn is here to talk more about teaching life skills for kids in school!
We, as special needs teachers, are facilitators of our student’s experiences. We need to be teaching life skills to students of any age! I often find myself making things simple for my students because they “have it hard enough as it is.” I don’t give them the opportunity to feel frustrated, struggle or even fail.
Want more ideas of life skills you could be teaching? Let me send you a list, here!
Walking the special needs path is like walking a tightrope, with constant assessing and adjusting as each step is made. Even the smallest decisions can seem big. Special needs parenting is hard, and each situation is unique. There is an ongoing alignment as situations move forward, backward, or just even- the standstill.
Hovering to provide more support than the child needs can actually do more harm than good. Want to learn more about the IEP Meetings and process? Living with a special need does not discredit the child from having his own ability. It also does not take away the basic human need of maturing and developing.
Every victory, big or small, gives joy in the sense of our own accomplishment. Large achievements are never one single thing, rather a set of many small skills that at times may appear insignificant.
Mastering a skill, developing a habit, learning a hobby, and contributing to the community, all make up part of that intrinsic motivation that fills a person with happiness.
It’s hard to imagine that our child is on a path to adulthood. Given the challenges, it might be tempting to think that she will be a “forever baby” and that our life span as parents will be as long as she needs it to be. However, it is important that we accept that we will not be able to live her life for her.
This is why teaching life skills is so crucial. Things like personal care, socialization, recreation, communication, self-advocacy, and critical thinking skills make up part of learning to grow as independently as possible. Teaching life skills for kids can take a lifetime to learn, and they start with the home environment.
As a special education teacher, I study behavior to help shape it. A big motto in my field of work is “you can’t control the behavior, but you can shape the environment.”
Parents are the thermostat of the home. However, it is not just the attitudes that create an atmosphere in the home. Daily habits and lifestyles that shape the environment that is created for the family.
It is important to be forward-thinking in day-to-day living. Be mindful of this as you turn habits and routines into daily opportunities. These will allow the child to gain those precious life skills that will bring that inner joy.
There is a vast world of skills to teach, and plenty of adjustments, modifications, and accommodations that make each individual situation a world of its own. It is a tremendous ground to cover and while not all of it is within your grasp, small victories can be made with each forward step.
When you’re teaching life skills for kids that struggle to learn it, you can only approach it as if trying to eat the elephant one bite at a time. Start somewhere where there is already an interest and challenge your child just a little further.
For more teaching life skills ideas, check out this blog post!
Model- demonstrate the task yourself and have your student try it on her own
Break it down- Think of all the small parts that it takes to do a task and teach one piece at a time
Make it visual- create a visual step by step guide to follow
Backward chaining- Start the activity, let him finish.
Forward chaining- Let them start the task and help them complete the final steps.
Want more ideas of life skills you could be teaching? Let me send you a list, here!
Looking for some ideas and materials for teaching life skills? Check out some of these!
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