Life skills instruction for children with developmental disabilities

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Special Education
• Behavioral Interventions

Background:

• The Preschool Life Skills program is an intervention package designed to teach functional skills.
• Previous research focused on typically developing children.
• The current study adapted this package for children with developmental disabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the "Life Skills" instructional package.
• To assess the acquisition and maintenance of functional life skills in children with developmental disabilities.
• To investigate the impact of specific instructional units on skill development.

Main Methods:

• Nine participants with developmental disabilities were taught 12 life skills across four units: instruction following, functional communication, tolerance of denial and delay, and friendship skills.
• A three-tiered instructional approach was used: class-wide, small group, and one-to-one instruction.
• Visual prompts and progressively increasing intertrial intervals were incorporated into the one-to-one instruction.

Main Results:

• All nine participants demonstrated skill acquisition in the targeted life skills.
• The acquired skills were maintained four weeks after the instructional period concluded.
• The intervention proved effective for children with developmental disabilities.

Conclusions:

• The "Life Skills" program is an effective intervention for teaching functional skills to children with developmental disabilities.
• The adapted program successfully facilitated skill acquisition and long-term maintenance.
• This intervention shows promise for preventing problem behaviors by teaching essential life skills.