LIFESKILLS

Life Skills is a Special Education class where we learn and practice the skills that are needed for the rest of our lives!  This is a fun class where we work on the following four main areas:

• Social/Emotional/Leisure:
  • ​Social/Emotional Skills:
    • Identifying problems, their possible consequences, and finding solutions
    • Conflict resolution, knowing how and when to ask for help and being able to accept help as provided
    • Recognizing social cues, reading body language
    • Making/keeping friends
    • Making healthy choices
    • Accessing community resources
    • ​Participate in leisure/recreational activities 
  • Money skills: 
    • Make a budget, plan expenses
    •  Count coins and currency, make sure that we give and receive correct change while shopping,
    • Understand the role of a bank and how to open and use a bank for savings and checking, how to use credit/debit cards properly
• Adult Living:
  • ​Completing household chores 
  • Maintaining personal hygeine
  • Planning, purchasing for, and preparing balanced meals and snacks
  • Problem-solving for real-life situations, and knowing who to ask for help
  • Arranging for transportation, learning to use public transportation or to drive, as appropriate
• Lifelong Learning:
  • ​Making a goal for employment or education after high school and completing preparation activities to meet that goal
  • Identifying strengths and needs; able to explain disability and advocate for self
  • Following a schedule, coming to class on time and with needed materials
  • Participating in individual and group learning activities, generating and contributing ideas
• Employment:
  • ​Identifying personal strengths, interests, talent and skills to select realistic and viable career options
  • Developing skills needed to find a job:
    • Complete a resume and job application
    • Learning how to search for a job
    • Practicing for job interviews
  • Identifying and reinforcing skills needed to keep a job:
    • ​Arriving on time
    • Following instructions
    • Working as a part of a team
    • Managing time and tasks on the job
    • Communicating effectively using email, voicemail, phone, filling out forms

We usually try to take trips into the community for shopping, learning, social or recreational activities regularly.  With the current COVID health concerns, these activities may be curtailed, but we will simulate as much as possible in the classroom until it is considered safe for us to venture out.