Life Skills Support
Overview
The Life Skills Support program is designed to meet the needs of students who demonstrate significant deficits in adaptive behavior that impacts the students’ educational performance. This replacement curriculum focuses on content and skill acquisition in the context of daily life. As the student matures, emphasis shifts from skill acquisition to skill application with increased self-reliance.
Program Description
The characteristics of a functional replacement curriculum are based on instruction for the current and future needs of the student. This is accomplished by focusing on content and skill acquisition in the context of daily life.
Skills are taught across these five life areas:
1. Home Living and Community Life
2. Work Habits and Attitudes
3. Recreation and Leisure
4. Academics and
5. Preparation for Adult Life
Adaptations and modifications are developed to increase participation in the instructional activities. This includes use of related services as needed. Skills are developed and practiced in multiple environments based on the student’s individualized needs. Skill sequences are relevant, meaningful and highly individualized, following a “top-down” rather than “bottom-up” model. Instructional activities and materials are based on a student’s chronological age. As the students mature, emphasis shifts from skill acquisition to skill application with increased self-reliance.
Pre-Referral Consideration
A student being considered for the Life Skills program should be evaluated by the district of residence to determine if a replacement curriculum would be a better instructional match for the student rather than adaptations and modifications to the general education curriculum.
Parents and their student would best be able to contribute to the decision making process if they are afforded an opportunity to visit a program and observe the methods and materials in use. This can be arranged by contacting the supervisor/director.
Referral Process
Upon completion of the pre-referral activities, the district should gain permission to deliver the developed evaluation report and most recent IEP to the appropriate MIU IV supervisor. The supervisor should attend the meeting during which the decision to make the referral is finalized.
The district will set the time and date to develop the IEP for the change in placement in conjunction with the MIU IV supervisor. The district will issue the invitation to the IEP meeting to all parties for the initial placement. It is the responsibility of the MIU IV program to arrange subsequent IEP’s.