Working with secondary students who have intellectual disabilities comes with an enormous amount of pressure. I feel a strong sense of urgency. There is an immediate need to help them prepare for life after high school. Even a freshman has only four years to learn as much as possible about how to function as an adult. When I talk to students and cadets (peer models) in my social skills class, “adulting” skills (cooking, laundry, cleaning, etc.) are high on the list of lessons they want to see addressed in class.
If ever there was a skillset that a worksheet was unable to address, Adulting has to be it. A worksheet teaching a person how to make a bed is quite possibly the most worthless waste of time I can imagine–and I sat through the entirety of Mariah Carey’s Glitter in the theater back in ‘01 (young teachers, Google it–you’ll die a little inside). Nope, there’s no shortcut for actually gathering up a crapton of supplies and setting up workstations that are as close to reality as possible.
Many schools have dedicated life skills spaces with kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms all set up, fully-equipped, and ready to use. My school does not. And if you’re in the same boat, you probably feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the task of amassing all the supplies, hauling them up to school, finding a way to set it all up only to tear it all down again at the end of the hour, and storing it so you’ll have it to use again next year. This lesson will help. You’ll still have to find all the stuff and drag it to school, but at least you’ll know specifically what you’re looking for and how to create an engaging lesson with all of it.
The best part is that, while–yes–the initial compilation and setup is time-consuming, once you’ve overcome that hurdle, the stations will be used daily for about a month in class, and you’ll be able to use the same stations with few/minor adjustments for years. It’s a station rotation model, so there’s lots of movement and variety for the kids and it’s very student-directed; my cadets had no problem navigating the groups from task to task.
Please check out (and hopefully use/enjoy) this new, free unit plan, E2E Adulting 101 Bootcamp.
Tags: special education, life skills, adulting, transition goals, SECD lessons
