Chapter14 allen7e

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Chapter 14 Facilitating Self-Care, Adaptive, and

Independence Skills


Definitions

• Functional skills—skills that, if a child cannot perform, someone does for them.

• Adaptive behaviors are determined by culture, but include eating, dressing, toileting.

• Self-determination—people with disabilities are taking an active role in making choices about their own life.


Self-Care Skills and the Curriculum

• Self-care skills are taught so that the children can be as independent as possible with or without their disability.

• Culture impacts the age that these skills are taught.

• They should be taught throughout the day when they are naturally occurring.


Self-Care Skills and the Curriculum (continued)

– Embedding self-care learning• Self-care skills should be taught to generalize

skills.• Self-care skills like eating can combine eating and

pre-academic skills like color words, vocabulary, and number.

• Communication can take place encouraging a child to share information during the teaching of self-care skills.


Self-Care Skills and the Curriculum (continued)

– Individualizing self-care programs• Building independence—allow children to

demonstrate their independence in skills and practice, practice, practice.

• Building in success—celebrate the success of doing a skill on their own, rejoice in the accomplishment.


Self-Care Skills and the Teacher

– Let the child do it• As much as the children are able to do, let them

do.• Encourage them to try, and reward the success.

– How much assistance?• Teachers need to evaluate each child and learn

when to help, how to help, and how much to help.• Avoid teaching learned helplessness because of

your lack of time and experience.


Self-Care Skills and the Teacher (continued)

– When to help• Least intrusive assistance

– Offer help in unnoticeable ways so that the child feels success.

• Excessive demands– Watch for children who are seeking attention by

demanding adult help.

• When children can’t– If a child is having an “off” day, offer support and

encouragement; if needed, a little assistance as well.



– Game-like assistance• Making learning fun is a way to keep a child

involved and interested.• It is also more fun to play a game than complete

rote practice activities.



– How to help• Demonstrate• Encourage• Assist• Practice• Reinforce



– Five steps of a systematic approach to teaching self-care skills

• Specify a goal for learning• Break the skill into small steps• Use a systematic teaching approach• Use data to evaluate progress• Modify the teaching as necessary



– Step-by-step planning• Evaluate each child on a skill and plan the steps

needed to help the child be successful.

– Maturation and learning• As children mature, their skills level should as well.• Toilet training programs are available to ease the

traumatic events involved.• Chaining is linking events together like you would a

chain to organize skills.



– Monitoring progress and communication• All parties working with the child need to know the

skill sequence and the accomplishments of each child.

• As the child progresses, the skill chart is updated showing that the child is now more independent than before.



– Special considerations• When demonstrating a skill, do so from the child’s

perspective.• When zipping, stand behind the child.• When learning to tie, put the shoe in front of them

the way their shoe looks on their foot.• When learning to dress, try to avoid pretty shaped

buttons, tight fitting clothing, and tags in funny places.

• Use clothes with elastic waists and items that are a little large.

Education

Chapter14 allen7e