Daily Living Skills

What are daily living skills and why are they important to our young students?

Daily living skills are the skills students need to build their indpendence. Our students need frequent opportunities to practice and grow these skills. Being independent will look different for each person but ALL students have opinions and want to do all that they can on their own. At school we encourage student independence and provide students with choices so that they can actively participate in their life.

This is a great time to work on life skills with your child. It's never too early to introduce daily living skills. By starting at a young age we are giving our students the best chance to learn and retain these skills. Even if your child may not be able to live independently later, it is important to support them learning as many daily living skills as possible. Below are some suggested activities that you can modify to fit your child's needs and home routines.

• Child chooses their own clothes (offer a choice between 2)

• Brushing teeth (many children avoid this important skill)

• Toileting

• Helping during meal times

  • Making simple meals (examples: cereal, instant noodles, toast)

  • Helping with meal preparation (fetching ingredients, stirring, pouring, carrying etc).

  • Helping with table setting (plates, bowls, utensils, food items: pouring water, getting sauces, etc.)

  • Tidying up after meal time (bringing dishes to the sink, wiping the table, puting away extras)

  • Help wash or dry dishes and put them away (start with simple, easy tasks)

• Helping with laundry

  • Bringing dirty laundry to the washer

  • Helping to hang clothes out to dry/take them in

  • Sorting clothes based on who's clothes

  • Putting their own clothes away

• Helping to tidy up

• Learn a new skill (scootering, biking, kicking a ball, going for walks, home language)

Tackling Toilet Training

Lockdown is a great time to try tackling toileting. Often toileting can take some time and during 'normal' days we always have reasons why we need to skip steps or we just plain forget to get the child on the toilet every 20mins. Regardless being ïsolated' at home is a great time to tackle this battle. Below are resources to support your toileting journey.

Brushing Teeth

Teethbrushing is an activity many students struggle with. Social stories are a great way to support student learning about how to brush their teeth