Life skills are an important part of our homeschool curriculum. A lot people seem to think of it as an afterthought or a non essential part of homeschooling. After all, they don’t teach these things in public school so why should homeschoolers give it any importance? It’s my stance that teaching life skills is just as important if not more important than academics. Life skills are safety skills.
For our autistic children, life skills take on extra importance. Oftentimes we aren’t looking at college for our special needs kids. We are looking at their best quality of life, as in taking care of their own needs or living independently. I’m not saying our kids can’t or won’t go to college. I just feel it’s more important for Logan to have a high quality of life where he doesn’t have to rely on others for his every need
This theory also pertains to Madison who has no known special needs. It’s just that paramount to their upbringing. Raising self sufficient adults will give them options that are not available to others who haven’t been taught these things. It will save them time and money as well as make them that much more independent.
The other thing having these important life skills will do is make them less likely to get victimized by unscrupulous people. This is where life skills are safety skills. If our autistic kids can handle their own debit card as well as attend to their own hygiene needs, they are in a much less precarious position. You aren’t going to live forever. They will have to navigate this world without you at some point.
Communication
Learning how to communicate with others as well as being able to effectively voice your needs is a vital life skill. As our autistic children get older, they need to know how to understand others and make themselves understood. Communication is a central part of conflict resolution skills, which are very important too.
Being non verbal doesn’t mean our kids have nothing to say. It means we need to teach them how to effectively communicate their wants and needs without using their voice. It also means teaching those working with them how to listen without hearing a voice.
Motor Skills
Motor skills factor into many of the everyday activities that your child will have to engage in as they get older. Eating, driving, and cooking are far more difficult for those that do not have very good motor skills. This can be a particular problem in autistic children, so it’s important that you find ways to improve their motor skills when they are young. Trying to develop these skills when they are older is much more difficult. Starting early is crucial to success.
Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking is a part of our everyday lives and we use that skill whenever we make a decision. Small decisions, like what to order at a restaurant, as well as big decisions, like what independence will look like, all require critical thinking skills. You have to get some base line skills down first like organizing thoughts and how to pro/con in your head.
Free play is one of the best ways to help your child learn critical thinking skills from a young age. Giving them the freedom to play on their own encourages them to make decisions and explore the world, making their own assumptions and finding solutions to problems. You may have to model and teach this to an autistic child at first. Don’t discount their play even if it’s not what you would do.
Buy me a coffeePatience
Patience is an important skill that most of us need more of always. Some days more than others here in Autismland. Unfortunately, autistic children are not usually very patient, so it’s a skill that you have to work hard to teach. Letting them experience situations where they have to wait for things and explaining the importance of patience in that situation is very helpful here. Remember to presume competence then scaffold as necessary. Even slow progress is still progress. Always end on a successful note.
Some of these seem like basic common sense. As in, you learn them simply from living life. I can’t take that chance with my autistic child. I may or may not have to walk him through all of these showing him the steps every single time. The fact that these skills have nothing to do with academics is irrelevant. They are just as important if not more than if he can do upper level math or dissect a shark.
