Apartment Lab

MVLA ATP has an apartment lab, where students work on independent living skills:

Making the bed

Laundry

Folding Laundry

Using kitchen appliances, running dishwasher

Cleaning the bathroom

Sweeping, vacuuming, mopping

Taking the trash/recycling out

Cleaning surfaces

Setting the table

Cooking

Cooking activities address a wide variety of areas such as developing motor skills, executive function skills, and learning math skills.

Measuring items involves math, computation, dexterity

Reading a recipe – scanning, reading, decoding, processing language

Following directions including sequencing, working memory, problem solving  

Fine motor skills are needed to use utensils, cut with a knife, stir, scrape with a spatula, use tongs, crack eggs, spread an item, or scoop food

Bilateral coordination – pouring from a container, holding an item while cutting with the other hand, holding a pan steady while stirring or flipping objects, opening containers, putting items together

Attention to details, timing, frustration tolerance, organization