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Teaching Life Skills to Students with Special Needs
Ideas for instilling essential life skills in learners with special needs.
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Kitchen Appliances and Utensils: Home Living / Daily Living
There are so many different types of tools we use in the kitchen, everyday. Help your special needs learner discover how to recognize, identify, and use various kitchen utensils and appliances. Using picture cards and drill prompting,...
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Home Living / Daily Living: Nail Care
Nails can get really dirty really fast. Prepare your special education class for life on their own by introducing them to a regular nail care routine. They discuss why it is important to care for your nails and practice washing,...
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Home Living / Daily Living: Dressing for the Weather
What to wear? Help your special needs class make independent choices about what they should wear during various weather conditions. They'll discuss weather-appropriate clothing, dress dolls for the weather outside, and even put on a...
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Home Living / Daily Living: Shopping List 2
I've done this exercise with my special needs learners more times than I can count. They practice getting ready to shop at the grocery store by identifying items on their shopping list. They match grocery items to the proper department...
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Home Living / Daily Living : Measure Ingredients
Cooking often requires one to measure out ingredients. Build an understanding of relative measurements as well as a reference for future cooking projects with your special needs class. In a small group, you'll discuss various measurement...
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Sexual Education Assessment Tool: Special Education
The FLASH program in Seattle has put together a set of questions for special education classes covering sexual education. Some of the topics include appropriate, inappropriate, self-esteem, puberty, hygiene, reproduction, and sexually...
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Home Living / Daily Living : Foods with Vitamins and Minerals
Bridge the gap between health and food for your special needs class. Through discussion and handouts, they will be introduced to the basics regarding the vitamins and minerals we get from eating healthy foods. They work to identify...
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Cooking Skills Using Self-Prompting
Prepare three different simple meals with your special needs class to prepare them for an independent life. They watch a video of a person preparing three different meals, they pause the video, complete the steps, then push play when...
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Laundry Skills
Get the soap, get the basket, get those dirty clothes in the wash. Provide special needs learners with a step-by-step guided practice lesson to help them build laundry skills. They'll go through each step as outlined; gestural, verbal,...
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Cooking Skills: Special Education
Using the microwave, boiling water for pasta, and using a knife to make a sandwich are all independent living skills. Prepare your special needs students for life by having them prepare three easy-to-cook items. Each skill is laid out as...
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Home Living / Daily Living: Shopping List
Talk with your pupils about the importance of staying focused at the grocery store. Your special education class will discuss how to create and use a shopping list. They will make a shopping list and pretend to use it in a role-play...
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Home Living / Daily Living: Dental Care
Don't forget to brush! Help your special education class excel at taking care of their wonderful smiles. They'll discuss proper brushing and flossing techniques, watch a video on dental hygiene, and then brush their teeth.
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Home Living/Daily Living: Selecting an Outfit
When people make clothing choices, they should be attempting to buy clothes that are the proper size. Unfortunately, for most that is a skill that they have never been taught. Make sure your special education learners can purchase...
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Home Living/ Daily Living: Food Pyramid
What did you have for lunch? Did it contain all four food groups? Help your special education class make good food choices and recognize foods in each of the four food groups. They look at images and discuss the foods on the food pyramid...
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Life Skill Communication
Students use digital camera to document the needs for daily living. In this life skills and visual arts lesson, students create class books that include photographs of everyday objects that they use in their home, school and personal...
Arizona Department of Education
Be Independent / Life Management Skills
Living independently is about more than managing money. Learn how to manage time, balance responsibilities, and calculate overtime and income with a set of activities about life management skills.
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Reproduction, Day 3: Parenthood
Reproduction can result in parenthood. Discuss the pros and cons, responsibility, and possible results of sexual intercourse. Intended for a secondary special education class, this lesson is developmentally appropriate for mild to...
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Using Simultaneous Prompting to Teach Opening a Locker
Make opening a locker with a key an easy task for your special needs upper grader. Here you'll find a prompting hierarchy and 15 steps to guide your learner through the process. You'll verbally prompt while physically modeling the locker...
Special needs in Music
Music Work Sheet (Special Ed)
Music is beneficial for all learners. Help your learners with special needs learn about different styles of music, as well as the ways that music is represented on paper, with 30 different worksheets.
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How to Play Baseball a Social Skills Lesson
Team sports are quite social; they involve following rules, playing cooperatively, communication, taking turns, and interpersonal relations. Introduce your special education class to the all-American sport of baseball. They learn about...
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Ham and Cheese Puffs
A simple cooking recipe can become an entire lesson when you have your class discuss following directions, measuring, and basic cooking skills. Intended for a special education audience, this simple dish can help build basic independent...
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Cashing a Check and Using an ATM
Banking is a key skill all individuals should practice. Provide a hands-on exercise to encourage the proper method of writing a check and using an ATM. The lesson prompts special needs students with full assistance until mastery is...
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Home Living/Life Skills: Face Washing
Having good hygiene skills is a very important part of living an independent life. Learners with special needs follow sequencing cards to practice washing their faces. They follow each step in the process and discuss the importance of...