Life Skills
Academic or functional life skills? Using behaviors associated with happiness to guide instruction for students with profound/multiple disabilities
The field of special education has begun to concentrate its efforts on developing objectives and procedural strategies that promote a positive quality of life for students with profound multiple disabilities, while determining which educational strategies are the most appropriate. A multi-element design was used to compare the effects of two educational conditions, academic skills instruction and functional life skills instruction, on the quality of life indicators of four students with profound multiple disabilities. Results indicated that all four students demonstrated a greater number of behaviors associated with happiness while receiving academic skills instruction. Implications for current educational practices are addressed, and directions for future research are discussed.
Bobzien, J.L. “Academic or functional life skills? Using behaviors associated with happiness to guide instruction for students with profound/multiple disabilities.” Education Research International, (2014): 1-12.
Call to Action for the Texas Educator
Work to ensure instruction is aligned to standards. To learn more about aligning to the standards, enroll in the TX CAN online course, Building a Foundation for Supporting Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities.
Functional Curriculum for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities
This chapter reviews existing literature on functional curriculum, including its history and evolution, a description of the curriculum content and instructional strategies, and factors to consider when selecting appropriate skills to teach. Although students with significant cognitive disabilities (SCD) benefit from learning functional skills through the same avenues available to all students, many require additional learning opportunities paired with systematic instruction to acquire functional skills. The chapter describes four major domains of functional skills identified in the literature: personal care, home living, leisure/recreation, and community. It also describes factors affecting skill selection and methods for determining the skills taught. Several factors must be considered when selecting functional skills for instruction, including student age and skills, current and future environments, function of the skill, and parent and student preferences. Choosing age-appropriate skills for instruction enables students to learn the skills needed for participation in activities with same-age peers as well as those needed throughout adulthood.
Kauffman, James M., Daniel P. Hallahan, Paige C. Pullen, and S. K. Dymond. Essay. In Handbook of Special Education, 675–86. New York: Routledge, 2017.
Call to Action for the Texas Educator
Teaching to standards is not in opposition to instruction on functional skills. Work to help students see real life application of academic instructions to make instructional more meaningful.
What age appropriate skills will your student need to learn for participation in activities with same-age peers as they transition to adulthood?
How can you incorporate functional skill development with instruction aligned to standards?
