10 Life Skills to Teach Kids & Teens with Autism At Home
Are you looking for ideas of how to teach Life Skills to kids and teens with autism at home?
Here are some practical ideas for life skills your child/children with autism can learn at home, which won’t cost you anything.
Laundry: There are lots of different laundry skills so don’t try to teach them all at once. Start with the activity which will be most likely to appeal to your child to try first. Break the skills down into smaller steps depending on your child’s age, comprehesnion & motor skills. The skills to teach include -sorting clothes into lights & darks, or fabric types before washing them; using the washing machine; helping to hang up wet laundry indoors or outdoors; folding dry laundry; sorting dry laundry; who does it belong to?; putting the clothes away
Menu Planning: start small with this and involve your child in planning one snack or meal for one day of the week. Tell or show your child what food is available for them to choose from & then support them to write/draw/use symbols to plan their menu. Accept sensory preferences. If appropriate, talk about helathy eating. It doesn’t matter if they ‘plan’ the same thing each week. Depending on age and ability you can gradually increase the opportunties to help you plan meals.
Cooking: again start small and simple with this, and gradually build on skills. Begin with food prep which is most likely to engage your child. If they’re not a morning person, don’t expect them to start making the family’s breakfast. If your child enjoys cakes & cookies then start with baking something simple. Be familiar with the recipe yourself first and make sure you have all the ingredients. Does your child need the recipe in large print or with symbols? If your child likes salad (yes, there really are kids who do- my son loves raw veg!) then start with washing and preparing veg. Think about safety issues in the kitchen and your child’s motor skills before you expect your child to handle a sharp knife or pour hot water. Here’s a FREE Kitchen Safety poster for your child to color/colour in and display in your kitchen as a visual remeinder of how to stay safe while preparing food.
Dishes: Firstly keep in mind your child’s sensory needs (noise of dishes touching each other, smell of food and cleaning products, texture of dish cloths & the feeling of soapy water). Start with simple tasks broken down into smaller steps. Skills to learn here include: carrying their dirty plate & cup to the kitchen, stacking the dishes, running hot water, filling the basin or loading the dishwasher, drying dishes, putting clean dishes away.
Caring: I’m sure you’ll agree that teaching kids to care for others is so important, but it’s not always easy. Can your child (safely) help a younger sibling with an activity, or get something off a shelf for their sibling which they can’t yet reach, or help them choose clothes, or draw a picture? Can your child water an indoor plant for you? If you have a garden, can they sow some seeds, water plants or even do some weeding? Can they help care for a pet (with supervision)? Can they make calls or send emails to a relative who lives on their own? There are lots of small, practical caring activities to try, depending on your child’s abilities & motivation.
Online shopping: I know that shopping in person isn’t easy just now, so this could be a good time to teach your child how to safely shop online. If they’re interested in food, can they help you prepare a list for your grocery shopping? If they need some new t-shirts for summer, do they know what size to order? Encourage them to think about cost & budgeting. If an aunt has sent them money for a birthday gift, do they know how much they have & can they afford the toy, book or game they want to buy? For older kids, you can work on them learning how to use a debit card safely online.
Budgeting: This is linked to shopping, obviously. First your child need to know how much money they have in cash, vouchers, on a debit card, and then how much they plan to spend. Do they have enough? Practice this with lots of made up scenarios first eg “You have a voucher for X and want to buy a game which costs Y. Do you have enough money?” I have created several printable Math resources for Money Skills which can help you with this.
Tidying: Even very young kids can learn to tidy up! For younger kids make up a simple tidy up song (This is the way we tidy the ……, tidy the …….). Use visual supports if your child responds well to these (symbols or written words) to remind them where to put toys, games, crafts they are finsihed with. Be specific and say where a toy is to go once they are finished playing with it. Does your child respond well to written rules? Make a poster (along with them) showing what your tidy up rules are. Make sure your child knows your expectations from the start, so if you’re about to start a craft activity tell them at the beginning that “Once we’re finished we’re going to put all the …. in the …..”.
Cleaning: Remember to take account of your child’s sensory needs before teaching any cleaning skills, particulary the smell of cleaning products and the noise of any tasks. The cleaning skills to teach your child can include dusting, wiping, sweeping, moping ( a microfibre mop & spray bottle is easier than a traditional bucket & mop), using a vacuum cleaner (noise permitting). Give your child some responsibility to clean a specific part of the house each week- this could be a bookcase, a table, or part of their own room. If your child is a runner, then indoor cleaning will be safer than outdoor jobs.
Motor Skills: many every day life skills depend upon our motor skills. If your child needs to develop their fine motor skills then simple inexpensive or free crafts (using items you already have in your home) are a fun way to practice -cutting, sticking, lacing, threading, sewing buttons, junk modelling, drawing and tracing can all be fun. Remember to go with your child’s interests to develop their motor skills. Check out lots of Printable Fine Motor Skills activities
I hope you find these Life Skills ideas helpful!
Kirsten