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Chapter 14 Facilitating Self-Care, Adaptive, and

Independence Skills

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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.

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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.

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Self-Care Skills and the Curriculum (continued)

• Assessment– What exactly is each child capable of.– Checklists, developmental profiles, and

professional judgment.– Child’s typical functioning in familiar

environments.

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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.

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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.

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When and How to Teach Self-Care Skills

• 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.

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When and How to Teach Self-Care Skills (continued)

• When to help– Least intrusive assistance

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

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

demanding adult help.

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When and How to Teach Self-Care Skills (continued)

– Visual cues and supports• Can increase independence.

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

encouragement; if needed, a little assistance as well.

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When and How to Teach Self-Care Skills (continued)

• 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.

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A Systematic Approach to Teaching Self-Care

• Specify a goal for learning– Achievable and based on what is

developmentally appropriate.

• Break the skill into small steps– Task analysis; teach in small steps.

• Using a systematic teaching approach– Shaping, prompting, fading and cueing– Forward or backward chaining

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A Systematic Approach to Teaching Self-Care (continued)

• Using data to evaluate progress– Monitor behaviors and track effectiveness.

• Modify the teaching as needed– Review data and examine if teaching

strategies are working.

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Snack Time: An Opportunity to Teach so Many Skills

• Self-feeding practice.

• Social and communication skills.

• Figure 14.4 for skills and strategies.

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Maturation and Learning: Toilet Training as an Example

• Can be task analyzed and taught in steps to children.

• Toilet-training programs– Commercial programs designed for children

with disabilities.

• Special considerations– Teach skills from behind child so they do not

have to reverse the behavior.– Put children in suitable clothing.

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• It is suggested that buttoning, zipping, and lacing boards may not be appropriate for a young child to learn those skills. Why?

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Self-Care Skills and the Teacher

– 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.