VOLUME 01
ISSUE 02
The Fundamentals of
Functional Living Skills
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ON THE SPECTRUM IN
ADULTHOOD
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A NEWSLETTER PROVIDING RESOURCES FOR THE
ADULT AUTISM COMMUNITY
Brought to you by the
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A MESSAGE FROM
THE DIRECTOR
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Welcome back! We are excited to bring you the second issue of our e-newsletter. In this issue, we offer content and resources to assess, teach, and learn functional living and leisure skills. Thanks to our contributors from the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center (DDDC) and the RCAAS!
Tying into the previous issue, this information can also be useful for inclusion in your activity schedules! In fact, I'm going to give you a challenge:
Can you develop a functional activity schedule for yourself and/or the adult on the autism spectrum in your life?
Please share what you come up with by Monday, May 4th and your functional activity schedule (please use as email subject line) may be featured in our next issue!
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Stay well,
James Maraventano, EdD, BCBA-D
Director, RCAAS-SCALE Program
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WHAT ARE FUNCTIONAL SKILLS?
Robert H. LaRue, PhD, BCBA-D
Director of Behavioral Services -DDDC
Clinical Professor-GSAPP
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Have you ever given thought to the skills that you use to get through your day independently, maybe having the ability to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks or driving a car to get to work? These skills are what practitioners often refer to as "functional skills."Functional skills refer to abilities that are needed to navigate the demands of everyday life. Simply put, they are skills that are useful and that allow us to function independently. Functional skills might include self-care (e.g., teeth brushing, shaving), domestic skills (e.g., meal planning, vacuuming), community skills (e.g., crossing the street safely), recreational/leisure skills (e.g., reading a book), or social skills (e.g., sustaining conversation with others).
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HOW DO I KNOW WHAT SKILLS NEED TO BE TAUGHT?
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While some functional skills to address might be obvious (e.g., brushing your teeth, making a meal), practitioners will often use formal assessments to identify skills to target for intervention. Some commonly used ones include the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales II (Sparrow, et al., 2008), the Scales of Independent Behavior-Revised (Bruininks, et al., 1996) and the Assessment of Functional Living Skills (Partington & Mueller, 2012). Autism Speaks has a freely available assessment called the
Autism Speaks Community-Based Skills Assessment.
This may be a good place to start thinking about the skills that need to be developed or improved upon.
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CREATING A TASK ANALYSIS
Whitney Pubylski-Yanofchick, MSW, BCBA
Behavior Analyst, RCAAS-SCALE Program
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Now that we know what functional skills are and how to assess them, the next step is prioritizing the most appropriate ones to learn or teach. Narrowing this down may seem overwhelming, so start with just one skill. When thinking about the task, choose one with a clear beginning and end. Something like emptying the dishwasher is a great example, as there are clear signals to indicate the start and end of the activity. Think of a skill that you or your learner will be able to practice often and that when mastered, will lead to more independence or be a stepping stone to increased independence. With a skill in mind, you are ready to create your task analysis.
A task analysis is the process of breaking down a complex skill into several more manageable steps for learning or teaching, and for monitoring progress. Here is an example of
how to hard boil an egg.
Watch the video and try to task analyze the skill for practice! Once you give it a try,
check out what we came up
with to see how we compare!
When creating a task analysis, record steps for the task, including only as much detail as necessary so that someone can recreate the steps. It may help to include pictures to ensure that the steps are clear.
Click here
to find an example of a task analysis for learning or teaching hand washing that uses pictures from the CDC. For more guidance on selecting skills and creating task analyses,
take a look at this resource
from Indiana University.
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TEACHING FUNCTIONAL SKILLS
Jenna Budge, LSW, BCBA
Behavior Analyst, DDDC-Adult Program
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After selecting a skill and determining if a task analysis is necessary, the next step is to consider how to make the skill more relevant to you or your learner. A good place to start is identifying an item or activity as motivation for completing the task. Whether you are teaching a new skill to someone else or attempting to learn one on your own, consider if completing the activity will result in a natural reward (e.g., eating a sandwich after making one) or, if you need to include something additional to stay motivated (e.g., time on the iPad after washing dishes). Like knowing the salary before starting a new job, it helps to have a clear idea of what can be earned.
It is helpful to keep the environment free of distraction while still keeping it natural. A common strategy used to teach a task analysis is learning step-by-step, or "chaining." Here are some explanations for the different ways to “chain” a task:
forward
and
backward chaining.
Prompts
or cues can enrich the learning process and make the experience more enjoyable. Be creative about incorporating choice whenever possible and make sure to track progress along the way to keep everyone motivated!
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Keep the “fun” in functional! While typically discovered through interaction with enjoyable activities, some adults on the autism spectrum may require teaching or guidance to participate in leisure activities. With increased exposure to the activity, preference and overall satisfaction may further develop.
Leisure skills are comprised of multiple responses and can be taught similarly to any other skill. Starting with identifying a preference or general interest can open up a variety of options. For example, displaying interest in looking at photographs may lead to using a camera, editing pictures, and creating albums. There may be some prerequisite skills necessary in order to fully engage in the activity. Teaching multiple leisure skills may present different challenges across the spectrum but can also lead to a meaningful leisure repertoire.
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ASSESSING FUNCTIONAL LIVINGS SKILLS
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OAR offers a webinar series that includes adult-specific functional skills development and instruction.
Check out their webinar series
here.
If you are looking for a more comprehensive list of functional skills assessments, check out the Kansas Technical Assistance System Network (TASN) websites. You can
click here to access TASN's list and determine what works best for you.
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Need help getting started? This link to
task analysis and chaining is a great resource! Also, more information on how prompting can be used to further promote success can be found
here.
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IDEAS FOR
LEISURE SKILLS
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Not sure where to go from here or what new leisure skills you would like to develop? Here is a link to get you thinking further about different leisure skills.
Discover a Hobby
is a great place to start exploring different hobbies to consider adding to your repertoire. From playing guitar to model railroading, this website is sure to give you some ideas.
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"The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn
is a skill; the willingness
to learn is a choice."
- Brian Herbert
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RCAAS' SCALE program is still accepting applications!
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Dr. Christopher Manente and Dr. James Maraventano were recent guests on
Community Outreach with Racquel Williams, a podcast aired on Magic 98.3, to discuss RCAAS' remote supports!
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WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE RCAAS E-NEWSLETTER AND FOUND IT USEFUL.
PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO SEND FEEDBACK OR
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