Life skills
change everything
The Autism Life Skills Lady
Your Advocacy + Life Skills = Your Child's Quality of Life
Because independence can’t wait until after school
Life skills are the biggest predictor of success in adulthood for individuals with autism.
Yet, many parents and school teams misunderstand the full breadth of what life skills entail and they often take a back seat in special education planning. Here you’ll learn:
- the 3 domains and 10 categories of life skills and how important they are to increasing quality of life.
- how to incorporate life skills into the IEP early and and transition to adulthood.
- how to navigate transition and the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).
- and find products that break down barriers in all ten categories of life skills.
Every life skill your child builds is a step toward greater independence — and a better quality of life.
Quality of life looks different for every person with autism, but almost every definition of it comes back to the same thing: life skills.
Your child has a limited number of precious years in public education to get everything they need for life after school. And what they need goes far beyond academics. It includes the lagging functional skills — the life skills — that so often get left off the IEP.
Skills like:
– Managing screen time
– Going with the flow when things don’t go as planned
– Tolerating medical procedures
– Avoiding victimization
– Dozens of other everyday-life skills you probably won’t find written into your child’s IEP
Sound important? It is.
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## Why this site exists
I built this site — and everything I share across my platforms — out of a genuine passion for improving the trajectory and outcomes of students on the autism spectrum.
Too many autistic students grow into underemployed adults who lack the adaptive and life skills they need to navigate everyday demands. Part of the reason: IEPs that underdeliver.
As a special education advocate who has worked directly with hundreds upon hundreds of families, I’ve seen this play out again and again. I’ve watched capable students graduate with strong grades and a school-shaped skill set — and no plan for everything school didn’t teach them.
**This is where we start changing that.**
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How I Can Help
New to
life skills?
Preparing for adulthood?
Navigating the IEP process?
Unsure where to begin?
Free Resource Highlight
The Life Skills Cheat Sheet
Download a clear, practical breakdown of the 10 core adaptive skill areas with real-life examples and integration tips for IEPs For additional resources on developing life skills, consider exploring non gamstop casino for comprehensive support tools. .
Here's A Quick Overview of Adaptive Skills:
What are Adaptive Skills?
(Also Known as Life Skills)
Life skills, activities of daily living, functional skills, adaptive skills or adaptive behavior, it can get confusing that all of these terms are used to describe the skills we need for everyday living.
Adaptive skills are defined as practical, everyday skills needed to function and meet the demands of one’s environment, including the skills necessary to effectively and independently take care of oneself and to interact with other people. You might hear the term life skills referring to all three categories of adaptive skills, which are conceptual, social and practical life skills.
The terms life skills and adaptive skills are used interchangeably on this site.
Why are Adaptive Skills so Important?
Research shows that increasing adaptive skills can increase adult outcomes and the ability to have the skills we need for day-to-day living.
This is important to consider when ninety percent of adults with autism are unemployed or underemployed. While employment is certainly not the only criterion on which we should measure success, it’s hard to ignore the statistics.
Adaptive Skills can be Underestimated by Parents and School Teams?
Teaching life skills marks the beginning of aiming low on their child’s future and teaching them would be demeaning.
Lagging adaptive skills are masked by the supports that family and teachers provide.
A student’s life skills are always in keeping with their intelligence, so if a student on the spectrum has above average intelligence, they won’t need them.
Or, life skills are only reserved for people with autism who are more severely impacted with lower IQs and overall functioning.
