EDUDEAF: Daily Living Skills Curriculum
Keywords: Curriculum Materials, Deaf Education, 7-12
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 21:04:40 -0400
This is a plea for information on a curriculum to use with high school
age deaf students, who need the skills of day to day living, such as
making change, keeping a checkbook, shopping at the grocery store, doing
simple but common recipes, etc. My student enters high school this
Fall. After a 3 hour meeting with the deaf Ed. Coordinator from my
state, this is the route we determined best to try. My student is at
the 2nd grade reading level, and has limited expereinces outside of home
life. This is her world. As much as I would like to think it will be
different, it will not. Now she is 15, and my time is running out to
prepare her for the real world. She is a willing student, but there is
no communication in the home, so she forgets a lot that we do. So, is
there anyone out there who can point me in the direction of a tried and
true curriculum? Am I doomed to start from scratch??
Please respond.
M. Gasper
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 19:39:57 -0700
I don't know if there is a curriculum that is set up to address what this
student needs or not. You might check with an Independent Living Center
for Deaf if there is one in your area.
Our local school district ended up working out a "fostering" arrangement
with us and we took (at separate times) two deaf high school students into
our home to live with us for two years each. Their life skills were
similar to what your student appears to have. We immersed them in sign
language, provided daily life/cultural experiences such as going everywhere
with us (including to work at times!), teaching them to handle money and be
responsible for part of our home maintenance and chores, trips on weekends
as well as longer trips, had them make restaurant reservations (after
teaching them how to use a TTY and relay), figure out tips, plot mileage on
trips, figure out how much money we would need for utilities, mortgage,
clothes, food etc, taught them to drive a car, get a license, get a
part-time job etc, etc. Both of them ended up going to NTID after they
graduated from high school. One is now a dorm counselor in a large Deaf
School in the Midwest, the other one works for Federal Express. I think it
is almost impossible for a school to make up for lack of parenting and
home/community experiences in a normal school day!
DeLores Wilson
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 15:14:12 -0400
Gasper wrote:
I can recommend one resource for developing the kinds of life skills you
mention. This past year I used a book titled _Skills for Living_ by
Harry Olsen, Jacqueline Maeder and Martin Noretsky, published by
Gallaudet. I picked up my copy at the Gallaudet bookstore.
The book is written for young adults and is divided into four sections:
Skills for Living: at School, in the Home, at Work, and in the Community.
Each section starts out with a story involving hearing impaired or deaf
individuals. The follow up lessons, worksheets, vocabulary lists,
transparency masters all focus on living skills and functional
vocabulary/concepts derived from the situation in the story. For
example, the Living at Home story deals with a deaf person getting into a
bike accident. The follow up lessons involve filling out hospital forms,
medical symptom vocabulary, reading and understand Rx directions and
warnings, home safety and label warnings, home electrical appliances
vacabulary and use warnings, emergency information and how to get help in
an emergency, nutrition, storing foods, budgeting, and understanding
billing forms. I used one of these sections each marking period as an
ongoing functional skills unit. The kids really liked them. It is
amazing how much of everyday information deaf kids can miss out on when
they have limited communication and experiences at home. So often my
kids have seen something but have no idea about the concepts behind it or
the vocabulary involved. When we did the Skills at Work section, one of
the concepts covered was taxes and banking (keeping a checkbook). Even
tho the kids had gone with their parents to the bank on regular errands,
they really had no clue about how banking works....why their parents were
handing over money, what a check is for, the fact that the bank holds
*your* money, not just a limitless supply. These kinds of units can be
really powerful if you can hook up with field trips to the community
places involved.
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 10:28:57 -0500
Noelle's advice is great - but it really saddens me that kids need this
kind of intervention.
Another really important thing for high school kids to get (imho :*) is
advocacy skills. I don't know how (or if) this is taught to most kids. My
son fell through the cracks because he was not in a dhh site school. When
I asked, his itinerant wrote to our senator and got a packet of materials
for him. Not exactly what I had envisioned, and I certainly got the
impression that I was asking for something not generally taught to deaf
kids.
Kids need to know what the laws are, and what their rights are under those
laws. They also need to know what to do, who to contact, if those rights
have been violated. They need to know that they have a right to a visual
smoke detector in the apartment they rent. They have a right to
nondiscrimination in the workplace - both in getting a job in the first
place, and in getting access to meetings, seminars, training, etc. Some of
this stuff is stuff all kids go through. Those of us who were once young
probably can remember ways that we were treated (especially in the
workplace) that we would absolutely not put up with today. We accepted
lousy treatment when we were young because we didn't know "they couldn't
do that." But deaf kids also need to know that they have special
protections, and need to know how to ensure those protections.
Candy Krepel
Document 5 of 5
Deaf Education Home Page
Deaf Education
Information Home Page
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 12:55:31 +500
Along with rights come obligations placed on someone else.
When you teach these rights, the children, as well as the
parents, will learn more about the child's educational rights,
and the obligations of the school. Do the schools
really want to educate the parents on disability laws and
have the parents then demand more than the school is providing?
Now, let's see which schools aren't afraid of knowledgable
parents. (There are many, but not enough)
Uploaded By: Jodi Gray/KSU/Deaf Education Major
Reply-To: gasper@msys.net
From: Gasper
Subject: Daily Living Skills Curriculum
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF 
Deaf Education Home Page
Deaf Education
Information Home Page
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: DeLores
Subject: Re: Daily Living Skills Curriculum
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: Noelle Reimers
Subject: Re: Daily Living Skills Curriculum
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF
>This is a plea for information on a curriculum to use with high school
>age deaf students, who need the skills of day to day living, such as
>making change, keeping a checkbook, shopping at the grocery store, doing
>simple but common recipes, etc.
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
From: Candace Krepel
Subject: Re: Daily Living Skills Curriculum
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF
Reply-To: bob@wt.net
From: Bob Texas
Subject: Re: Daily Living Skills Curriculum
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF