Preschool Life Skills (PLS) is a research-based, supplemental curriculum that provides a set of tools to help teach important social and life skills for school success. The PLS program includes a set of lessons developed by Dr. Greg Hanley and colleagues (2014) to increase skills in making requests, following directions, tolerating delay, and developing friendships. Several research studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the PLS program across various types of early childhood settings with increases in positive social behaviors and decreases in challenging behavior for children both with and without disabilities. The program may be used as a class-wide approach or individualized for learners of different abilities.

Guided Navigation of the Site

Start here for a guided tour of the PLS website including a description of PLS, how to access the tools, and how to apply them to your classroom!

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Colorful drawn flowers line the side of an image listing the 13 preschool life skills under four headings. Instruction Following includes responding to name, following simple instructions, and following multi-step instructions. Functional communication skills includes requesting help, requesting adult or peer attention, requesting materials from adults and requesting materials from peers. Tolerance skills include tolerating delays from adults and tolerating delays from peers. Friendship skills include saying "thank you" acknowledging or complementing others, offering or sharing and comforting others.

What are the 13 Preschool Life Skills?

13 lessons to teach preschoolers important skills for early school success

Why Use

the PLS Program?

The PLS program may be used as a way to prevent challenging behaviors from occurring by explicitly teaching children foundational skills and allowing them many opportunities to practice.

In the original study in 2007, Hanley and colleagues worked with a group of preschoolers on the attainment of the Preschool Life Skills. There was a 400% increase in the 13 specific skills and a 74% decrease in problem behavior.

The Preschool Life Skills are effective with typically developing children as well as children with developmental disabilities (Robison et al., 2019).

How Do I Use the PLS to Teach Skills?

View full instructions on using the PLS Program.

Introduce and teach each skill at circle time, small group, or individually and model the skills. Use the Lesson Plans for guidance.
Provide many opportunities throughout the day for practicing the new skill. Use the PLS Teaching Opportunities for Each Lesson for ways to practice each skill.
Commit at least two days to teach each skill and at least four days for intentionally practicing each skill.
Reteach any skills that children are not consistently performing independently based on the data.
Maintain fidelity of implementation by using the Fidelity Checklist.

View a Presentation about PLS