Category Archives: Life Skills

I Can Work!

July 17, 2017Life SkillsGuest Blogger

Educator, Rebecca Tock, teaches at the Elsie Allen High School in Santa Rosa, California. She generously gave us permission to share her glowing testimonial about the I Can Work! curriculum, a 5 module pre-vocational program designed by Therapro author, Angela (Angie) Mahoney, M.Ed. With Angie’s broad experience as a pre-vocational teacher and as a consultant to other schools in developing their pre-voc programs, her I Can Work! program continues to evolve into a practical, exciting course that builds on basic job readiness skills such as how to greet a supervisor, how to dress for work, how to fill out a job application, appropriate job behaviors, etc. Learning those basic skills provides a firm foundation on which to build more advanced skills. The I Can Work! curriculum instructs students in 5 different jobs: clerical, food service, retail, and grocery.

Rebecca Tock‎

I Can Work

I was introduced to the “I Can Work” curriculum at an educational conference I attended in Spring 2015. Immediately, I knew it was special. It was so different from other vocational curriculums I have used in the past and I thought that this may be the piece that I needed to provide a well rounded pre-vocational education experience in my class. After the presentation, I approached Angela Mahoney, the developer of the curriculum, for some clarifying questions about the program. I was impressed by how user friendly the program appeared to be. Angela was clear, concise and knows her stuff! She was very helpful. What was quite amazing was that it was a total of $49.95. That is unheard of in this profession!

I was able to immediately purchase the curriculum due to its affordability and size. The modules provide comprehensive and clear lesson plans that are easy to use and even easier to incorporate into an existing classroom curriculum. The material presented provides visuals and a guide for the use of real world everyday materials. When working with young adults who have severe disabilities the use of familiar objects is imperative for success. I appreciate the way in which “I Can Work” really uses large graphics and touches upon prior knowledge of the students.

The instructions to set up lessons are easy to follow, and really make this an accessible space for my students. It has definitely enhanced my pre-vocational lessons and given my students more ways to participate in pre-vocational activities.

I love ‘I Can Work!’ It was the best class curricular decision I could have made. I recommend it to any teacher who teaches a pre-vocational class to students/individuals with moderate to severe disabilities.

Ms. Tock teaches students in grades 9-12 who have been identified as having severe special needs. We would like to direct you to her request for funding ADA accessible tables for her students’ use at mealtimes in school, so they can join their peers. Please visit the site to learn more about her project.

Saturday Seminar: Post-Secondary Transition Planning

March 4, 2017Events, Life SkillsTherapro

Tee Stock, MS OTR/L, MBA presented a Therapro Saturday Seminar last weekend that provided a comprehensive look at Post – Secondary Transition Planning (PSTP) for students. Her extensive experience with transition planning in public schools, a private special education school, and a local collaborative, in addition to her doctoral work in this area, offered attendees an abundance of useful and current information including a guide to the numerous resources available. An essential component of her presentation was the role of the occupational therapist on the transition team.

In her review of the PSTP process, Tee reviewed some interesting statistics, some of which were quite alarming, including: “People with disabilities are twice as likely to drop out of high school; ”Those with disabilities are three times more likely to live in poverty;” and “After high school, students with disabilities are less likely to continue their education, find employment, or live independently.” Transition planning is federally mandated to begin at age 16, but in some states, including Massachusetts, planning begins at age 14, or even earlier with the goal of preparing the student for life after high school by teaching the student a set of skills. These skills encompass finding and keeping employment, living independently, learning to access community resources, and learning to self-manage medical and other personal needs.

When taking a look at the skill set that PSTP addresses, it seems clear that the occupational therapist should have an important role on the transition team. However, Tee explained that sometimes lack of understanding of what the OT can offer to the process or lack of funding to increase OT services when preparing for post-secondary transitioning could stand in the way of including this professional on the team. AOTA supports the role of the occupational therapist in TP as stated clearly in the OT Standards of Practice Guidelines and by providing valuable resources on transition planning.

Tee highlighted a large sample of OT activities for transition services that included: performing activity analysis for job, school, and self help skills; administering assessments that support life skills and transition skills; providing consultation on assistive technology to promote a student’s access, progress, and participation. The I Can Work! curriculum was endorsed by Tee and other attendees as a valuable 5-module program for integrating communication skills with hands-on pre-vocational training for middle school, high school, and young adults with special needs. Some assessments that can be administered by OTs that Tee recommended include the Transition Planning Inventory (TP-2), the Kohlman Evaluation of Living Skills (Kels) 4^th Edition, which was developed by an OT, TEACCH Transition Assessment Profile – 2^nd Edition (TTAP), and the Reading-Free Vocational Interest Inventory 2 (R-FII:2). Attendees freely shared information about assessments they used, liked, and did not like. OTs can consult on selecting Assistive Technology that may be useful for TP. Tee recommended a broad variety of Apps including: Stop, Breathe & Think, a free meditation app that we actually tried out; Visual Schedule Planner, to create a custom schedule with audio and video of events; and My Homework Student Planner, designed to help students from middle school age through college keep track of classes, projects, test, and homework.

Tee left us with a great deal of information on the whole scope of post-secondary transition planning including the importance of a full team that includes the parents and student. We also learned the important contribution the occupational therapist can provide for the student to help ensure a successful transition from high school to the community.

Take a look at a few of the many positive remarks from those who attended Tee’s seminar:

“It was a pleasure listening to this comprehensive seminar, presented at an excellent pace with thorough notes. Thanks so much!” Beth B., Occupational Therapist

“Organized, lots of resources.” Karen D., Occupational Therapist

“Informative, a lot of resources.” Jackie P., Occupational Therapist

Thank you, Tee!

Filomena Connor, MS, OTR/L

Task Boxes: A Hands-On Approach to Life Skills

August 24, 2016Life SkillsTherapro

by Angela Mahoney

The importance of pre-vocational planning and opportunity is ever growing, yet when and where to begin can be so overwhelming for both educators and parents! Task boxes are a great way to introduce as well as develop a wide range of hands-on life and vocational activities for a range of diverse learners.

Task boxes are compartments that contain material for a certain activity. The activities are typically short and structured and they offer a nice blend of familiarity and challenge. Any activity that fits in the compartment may be used as part of the young adult’s curriculum both at school and home as well as in a therapy session such as OT, PT and Speech. Task boxes offer much more than organization for the young adult working on the activity:

Activities address various skills.
They encourage independence, as the young adult takes the task out of the box, completes it, and puts it away with minimal or no guidance.
They serve as excellent sequencing activities.
The boxes are visual, and the single-unit presentation is easy to understand.
They break down activities into small steps, which is an important aspect of applied behavioral analysis (ABA).

To create a task box you need to first gather a limited number of materials (10-20) related to the activity as well as a compartment with lid large enough to store materials.

Next you will need tocreate a visual guide showing each step of the task in the compartment. This allows the young adult to visually see each step of the variety of task boxes and encourages independence when working.

After the materials have been placed in the compartment, adhere the steps to the lid, number the box and add it to your task box area for future practice and success with a wide range of skills!

Below are some examples of task box ideas broken down by Module, adapted from the I Can Work! Program.

Clerical: Folding paper in thirds, Addressing envelopes, Filing by numbers or words

Retail: Folding t-shirts, Pairing and Sizing shoes, Buttoning Shirt

Food Service: Folding napkins, Setting a table, Assembly of place settings

Grocery: Sorting hard and soft groceries, Stocking shelves

By creating task boxes that apply to life utilizing vocational materials, young adults are building a stronger foundation and confidence for future success!