Life Skills

“It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.” -Dr. Seuss

Don't Forget to Keep Practicing!

Your teachers will be giving you lots of materials and things to work on, but here are even more resources to check out!

Teaching Life Skills

Break it down

As parents and educators, we tend to make false assumptions. As an example, we will tell a child, ‘clean your room’. Without further explanation, direct instruction, and modeling. This would be similar to telling an adult ‘build a robot’. Most adults do not know how or where to start that process without further direction. Additionally, children tend to lack the executive functioning skills to plan, organize, and executive their goal.

  1. Remember to provide clear, one to two-step directions either verbally or in a list/picture format

  2. Use visual aids (i.e. google a video of a child cleaning their room)

  3. Model the steps (have them watch you clean your room and model the steps)

  4. Allow them time to practice under supervision

Clean your Room example:

  1. Provide the child with a list of steps involved with cleaning a room-

    1. Pick up your dirty laundry and put in the hamper

    2. Throw away any papers or tissues into the garbage

    3. Fold your clean laundry

    4. Put your clean laundry in each drawer

    5. Hang your clothes

2. Model how to hang clothes on a hanger and how to fold shirts, pants, sock, etc.

3. Ensure that the child knows how to categorize their laundry by drawer and can locate it.

4. Practice until they have reached mastery

5. You can repeat the aforementioned steps for any task. It is important to first sit down and consider the various steps needed to complete the task. Breaking tasks down into manageable units allows for direct instruction of life skills.