Transition Planning - Part 4

We all know the law says we have to begin planning for the transition to adulthood when our child is in high school, but many families and professionals have begun to realize that this may be too late.  There are many ways that we can begin transition planning and teaching independent living skills and vocational skills at a very young age.

Another way we can begin working on these skills at a very young age is to have the child do chores at home and in the classroom.  These may or may not be the same tasks that you would expect a child without autism to do, but simple tasks like setting the table, delivering laundry to the correct room, folding towels, etc. can teach a child to begin a task and work through to completion.  If you use a token economy system for chores, then you are teaching them that they have to work to earn what they want, just like we do as adults.

Book of the Week: How to teach life skills to kids with autism or Asperger's / Jennifer McIlwee Myers ; [foreword by Temple Grandin]. Future Horizons, 2010.

This book is in the SESA Library. You may search the library catalog via the SESA website (http://www.sesa.org), or contact Anne directly by email at afreitag@sesa.org or by phone at 907-334-1301.