Category Archives: Life Skills

A Life Skills Program for Students, 10-19 years of Age, Who Are Deaf and Low Functioning

Events, Filomena's Corner, Life Skills

Therapro hosted its very first international speaker for the Saturday Seminar Series on February 15. A post professional master’s student at Tufts, occupational therapist Jill Massey, from the United Kingdom, presented her talk entitled: A Life Skills Program for Students, 10-19 years of Age, Who Are Deaf and Low Functioning. On a day that threatened a snowstorm, a brave and focused group of attendees learned how this therapist went about developing a program in a facility that had never had an occupational therapist on its staff and learned of her vision for a life skills approach to the Deaf, low functioning students at her school.

Jill’s seminar provided a brief overview of OT practice in the UK within community based pediatrics. She also discussed understanding and awareness of issues for children/young adults who are Deaf and introduced a Life Skills Program for this population. Jill clarified the difference in the use of the two terms “deaf” and “Deaf” when discussing Deaf culture. The quote she documented from the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities says: “Persons with disabilities shall be entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific and linguistic identity, including sign language and Deaf culture.”

Jill’s position at Oak Lodge School was a brand new service to the students, with no budget. She had her work cut out for her and has worked tirelessly in conjunction with the school speech and language therapist to educate staff as well as provide evaluation and class-based intervention for the students Her work became focused on real world integration of the students and empowering parents to work with their children to promote independence. Evidenced based studies were shared that indicate that context-based exposure in building life skills is key to success. Her goal is to do international research in this area of practice to demonstrate the efficacy of a program that is directed to student independence in life skills at home and in the community.

Jill taught us Deaf etiquette through a true-false quiz, gave us tips for providing optimal environmental adaptations with Deaf students, and offered practical suggestions on how to communicate effectively with a Deaf person. It was quite an interesting seminar!

Here are a few of the comments received from attendees:

“Presenter is an advocate, trailblazer, and passionate about her work. She is dedicated to research.”

“Even though I don’t work with a lot of deaf students, all the info could be applied to other school life skills.”

“Very informative. I learned a lot, especially about Deaf awareness/culture.”

Thank you, Jill!

Filomena Connor, MS, OTR/L

February 15, 2014

The Shoe Tying Club

Fine Motor, Life Skills

shoetyingTeaching shoe tying is often not prioritized these days due to the advent of velcro and slip on shoes. Due to the frustrations experienced by their children, many parents tend to choose the easy way out buying shoes that do not require tying. Fast forward a year or two, parents find themselves frantically tying their second grader’s shoes on the sidelines of a soccer game or just before the bus. These parents are silently berating themselves for having given in earlier and are hoping for a miracle. First and second grade teachers are similarly frustrated when children arrive in their classroom lacking a skill that should have been learned in kindergarten. Deb Vozel, an intervention specialist at Cline Elementary School in Centerville, OH decided she needed to do something about it. Together with Bhanu Raghavan, OTR/L she started a shoe tying club to coach any second grader lacking shoe tying skills. The club turned out to be a resounding success!

Shoe tying club met during the second quarter of school. The club members were chosen by their classroom teachers, and included both typical and children with special needs. The steps used for shoe-tying came from the poster One-Two Tie Your Shoe. This poster was adapted from the book Self-Care with Flair! The club members were placed in groups of four to five. They met daily before the end of their morning session. Mrs. Vozel and her aide led the club daily with weekly consultation from the OT. Club members practiced a few steps each week. Once a step was mastered they were introduced to the subsequent step. If a child had a particular difficulty with mastering a step the OT helped to break the steps down even further (activity analysis). At the end of the second quarter all the club members were successfully tying their shoes. Mrs. Vozel celebrated their success by giving each member a certificate and a copy of the poster One-Two Tie Your Shoe.

The nine easy steps in One-Two Tie Your Shoe are a convenient and quick way to teach this skill to any child. The laminated poster can be displayed in the classroom, on the refrigerator at home, in day-care centers and wherever young children are learning to tie their shoes.

Tis’ the Season!

Life Skills, ,

By Angela Mahoney

Welcome to I Can Work! The I Can Work! program is a five-module course designed to integrate communication skills with hands-on prevocational training in the areas of job readiness, clerical, retail, food service, and the grocery industry.

With the holidays quickly approaching, there are many opportunities for students to work on their pre-vocational skills while supporting their school community.

One great idea I have had success with is a gift wrapping “business.” Staff throughout the building sign up for gift wrapping and are charged a small fee (typically $1-2 per gift, just enough to cover supply costs) to have students in the prevocational program wrap their holiday items.
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  1. Start by having students create posters to hang around the school building. This is a great way for students to work on their computer skills as well as learn about marketing for a business. Build on this exposure by guiding the process of what to include on the poster (i.e. cost, location, time frame for completion).After the posters are completed, have students walk throughout the building and determine the best locations for exposure. Encourage this discussion and problem solving. Be sure to have the students work in pairs or a small group and hang all of the posters together. It is all a part of the process!
  2. After the word has gotten out, have students create a flyer with an order form attached to the bottom. Be sure to include the necessary ordering information (such as name, room number and contact information) as well as how many packages are being dropped off for wrapping.If you have wrapping options (i.e. styles of wrapping paper, ribbon, bow) be sure to have an easy way for customers to designate their preference when signing up. With permission, place the order forms in staff mailboxes and just wait for the orders to come flying through the door!
  3. While waiting for orders to come in, create a supply list with the students. Have them think about what is needed to wrap a gift (paper, tape, scissors) and build from there. If possible, have students take inventory of what items have already been purchased for the program and if more are needed.

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You can even take it further and buy rolls of craft paper and have the students make their own wrapping paper using shape sponges/stamps (i.e. stars, trees, snowflakes) and paint!
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Pre-cut ribbon is a great way to have materials ready for orders as well as build on measuring and cutting skills. Additionally, this task is a great partner task. Partner tasks help students learn how to work with others by practicing communication, pace and consistency.
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To me the gift wrapping “business” is a win win! Busy staff members do not have to worry about wrapping all of those holiday gifts and students in the pre-vocational program are exposed to the basics of running a business. Happy Holidays to all and keep those creative and engaging pre-vocational tasks happening!

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The I Can Work! Program was created by Angela Mahoney. I Can Work! serves to introduce and educate young adults with special needs and who are interested in working in their community. This program is geared toward middle school and high school students. Additionally, this program can support recent graduates ages twenty-one through twenty-five who are transitioning from school to the workplace.

Angela Mahoney currently works as special education case manager at Middle School in Danbury, Connecticut. She has worked with students of all ages in a variety of settings for the past thirteen years. Her career includes a private school where she worked with over seventy-five middle school and high school-aged students on a weekly basis, running an inclusion-based elementary program for students with autism, as well as co-teaching core academic classes as part of a team comprised of fellow middle school educators.

To learn more or to purchase the I Can Work! Program, visit icanwork.therapro.com