How do I teach life skills?
Children are expected to know how to do things that they have not been taught. Yes, children can watch and learn skills through a process called incidental learning but there will be other skills that need to be directly and explicitly taught.
Rather than focusing on what life skills the child ‘cannot do’, shift the focus to the skills that are mastered and near mastery.
Make a list of the life skills the child has mastered such as:
- Drinking from a cup without spilling
- Utilize an iPad independently
- Initiating conversations with peers
- Brushing teeth
- Using the bathroom independently
Make a list of the life skills that are near mastery such as:
- Pouring liquid without spilling
- Following a morning routine (choosing clothing, getting dressed, brushing teeth)
- Using money to make small purchases
- Making a grocery list
- Tying shoes
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.
- Remember to provide clear, one to two-step directions either verbally or in a list/picture format
- Use visual aids (i.e. google a video of a child cleaning their room)
- Model the steps (have them watch you clean your room and model the steps)
- Allow them time to practice under supervision
Clean your Room example:
- Provide the child with a list of steps involved with cleaning a room-
- Pick up your dirty laundry and put in the hamper
- Throw away any papers or tissues into the garbage
- Fold your clean laundry
- Put your clean laundry in each drawer
- 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.
You cannot expect children to learn if you have not taught them”