Functional skills are skills that students need in order to gain independence and live independently. They range from simple to complex, but all of them have one thing in common: they help the student prepare for the world outside of school.
When including functional skills in an IEP, it is important to understand the different types of skills and when and why they might be appropriate. It’s also important for IEP teams to be aware that you can write functional academic skills into an IEP.
Below we break down nine functional skills for independence.
1 – Behavior SkillsBehavior skills are skills that influence interpersonal and self-regulatory behavior in relation to interactions with self and others. They also include task-related behaviors and a student’s ability to successfully navigate those situations while maintaining appropriate behavior.
Being able to communicate wants and needs, ideas, concerns, and emotions come into play when students are working on their communication skills. Can they communicate about financial matters? Can they express concern about a situation? Can they ask for directions and then understand the information they are given? Providing practice both in and out of the classroom is important to ensure that the student can handle a variety of situations where he will need to communicate effectively.
When adding daily living activities to the IEP, they should include things like personal hygiene, cooking or preparing meals, budgeting money, and having good time management skills. They are the basic things that everyone needs to do in order to survive and live independently.
These skills are sometimes also called ADLs, or Activities of Daily Living.
Marketable skills will vary from student to student, but all of them should know how to apply for a job, how to behave at an interview, and what to do after they have received a job offer. Specialized training, if applicable, can give students experience as apprentices or in trade schools so that they have additional vocational skills.
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Much like daily living activities, life skills focus on the activities students need to do on a daily basis. Typically, life skills classes provide additional out-of-the-classroom experiences to expose students to different scenarios. There may a field trip taking public transportation or a shopping excursion to buy ingredients for a meal that they will prepare at school. The curriculum may vary, but the end goal is for students to be more independent.
Can students get around? Are they able to move physically from place to place? Are they able to navigate public transportation? Do they know how to read train schedules? All of those things fall under mobility skills that can be addressed in the IEP.
Making sure that your special ed students understand how to take safety measures to ensure that they do not get hurt is a critical skill for independence. It is everything from shutting off the oven after baking to not leaving a candle burning unattended to wearing a seatbelt while riding in or driving a car. The skills may be simple and taught over a long period of time (i.e. – no running in the hallways) or specific to a certain time period or level of development.
Here is short snippet from one of the trainings inside of TII membership about transitioning to functional goals:
The membership also provides guidance on keeping parents involved, which can be challenging for everyone!
You can join The Intentional IEP to gain access to over 150+ different IEP related trainings, and access to our IEP Goal Bank. Click the image above to join!
Self-care includes basic skills like brushing teeth, bathing, getting dressed, eating, etc., but it also includes understanding how to care for one’s mental health. Do students know how to decompress in a safe and appropriate way? Can they manage anxiety and stress levels? Teaching them how to care for their mental and emotional health is just as important as teaching them how to shower.
Social skills are something that can be tricky to teach. Some students are inherently more socially adept than others, but it is still a good idea to practice social interaction skills. That can be everything from understanding personal space to waiting to speak and not interrupting someone. The best way to practice is to get students out and about in the school and community. The more feedback they receive about what is appropriate and what is not, the better their social skills will become.
Functional skills should be developmentally appropriate for each student and help guide them towards independence. Making sure that those skills are included in a student’s IEP ensures that he will get the practice and reinforcement that he needs to succeed.
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