How to Teach the Developmentally Disabled Life Skills
Special needs children do not always pick up basic life skills as easily as other children. Life skills are basic tasks such as cooking, cleaning, dressing, self-grooming and other day-to-day activities that are important for daily life. These skills must be taught to developmentally delayed children in a way that they can understand.
- Focus on basic skills needed in daily life such as self-care, feeding, dressing and grooming. All of these basic life skills are crucial skills that will need to be mastered first. Teaching a developmentally disabled person how to undress, bath, brush teeth, brush hair, feed themselves, and take care of basic hygiene is the first step in teaching the basic life skills.
- Determine the level of speech of the person with a developmental delay. Basic communication is necessary for daily life. Teach them basic manners and phrases such as "I want," "I need," "Please," "Thank You" and other basic phrases that will be used on a daily basis.
- Teach the concept of money through hands-on lessons. Take the person on a trip to the store and allow them to choose the items, determine if they have enough money to buy the items, and pay for the items upon checkout by counting out the correct amount of money. You should only assist if you absolutely need to.
- Provide the developmentally delayed person exposure to a variety of different social situations. By providing them with the experience of different social environments, they will gain social awareness and understanding of personal boundaries which will be needed throughout life.