Life Skills Curriculum for People With Disabilities

People with disabilities that are mentally impaired are not able to stick to the core curriculum that mainstream children follow throughout their education. Life skills classrooms are in place in most school districts to help teach children with disabilities the key skills they will need to function independently later on in life.

• Life skills begin with socialization. Special needs children and adults need to be comfortable in their own skin. It is important that they are taught self-awareness from an early age so that they are able to interact with others in a way that will help them later on in life. Communication skills are taught as well as group activities and outings to help prepare them for the interactions they will experience later on in life as well.

• Job skills are taught in a life skills curriculum in the high school years of a special needs life skills classroom. Skills such as counting money, working a cash register and working on a computer are all necessary skills that will help them to obtain employment and be guide them in being self-sufficient once they reach adulthood.

• One of the most important areas of a life skills curriculum is teaching people with special needs the skills they will need to have in order to care for themselves. They are taught how to choose healthy foods, food preparation, cooking, personal hygiene, the importance of healthy eating and exercise, as well as self-help skills like how to properly brush their teeth, wash their face and hands and get dressed on their own.

• Community outings are common in a life skills curriculum to help people with disabilities understand the way a community works. Outings to stores are performed to teach them the proper process of waiting in line and paying for the items they are buying. Trips to community activities such as sporting activities are also common in order to help them to deal with social anxiety.