Allen Chapter 14

Allen and Cowdery, The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early Childhood Education, Ninth Edition. © 2022 Cengage. All
Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Facilitating Self-Care, Adaptive, and Independence
Skills
Chapter 14

Chapter Objectives (1 of 2)
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
14-1 describe self-care skills as part of a curriculum.
14-2 describe when and how teachers can help children learn self care
skills.
14-3 outline the five components of a systematic approach to teaching
self-care skills.

Chapter Objectives (2 of 2)
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
14-4 list skills that can be taught during snack/mealtime, and strategies to
teach them.
14-5 explain why maturation is an important aspect to self-care skills,
specifically toilet training.

Acquiring Self-care Skills
Two basic principles guide quality programs
(1) the principle of independence—that children be encouraged and allowed to do as much as
possible for themselves in learning environments designed to support their endeavors
(2) the principle of participation—that children with disabilities be a part of all activities and
that adaptations be made to encourage a child’s participation to the maximum extent
possible.
Self-determination—people with disabilities are taking an active role in making
choices about their own life.

Self-Care Skills and the Curriculum
• Self-care skills are taught so that the children can be as independent as
possible with or without their disability.
• Culture impacts the age that these skills are taught.
• They should be taught throughout the day when they are naturally
occurring.

Assessment
• Understand what exactly each child is capable of doing independently in
that particular skill sequence
• Generally assessed through checklists, developmental profiles, and the
professional judgment of teachers and clinicians
• Information obtained can identify adaptive skills to teach

Embedding Self-Care Learning
• Self-care skills should be taught to generalize skills.
• Self-care skills like eating can combine eating and pre-academic skills like
color words, vocabulary, and number.
• Communication can take place encouraging a child to share information
during the teaching of self-care skills.

Individualizing Self-Care Programs
Building independence—allow children to demonstrate their independence in
skills and practice, practice, practice
Building in success—celebrate the success of doing a skill on their own,
rejoice in the accomplishment

How to Teach Self-Care Skills
Let the child do it
• As much as the children are able to do, let them do.
• Encourage them to try, and reward the success.
How much assistance?
• Teachers need to evaluate each child and learn when to help, how to help, and how much
to help.

When to Help
Least intrusive assistance—Offer help in unnoticeable ways so that the child
feels success
Excessive demands for assistance—Watch for children who are seeking
attention by demanding adult help
Visual cues and supports—Can increase independence
When children can’t—If a child is having an “off” day, offer support and
encouragement; if needed, offer a little assistance as well

Case Study
Zack is a four-year-old in your preschool class. You recently noticed that he is
not eating very much at lunchtime.
When you talk to his mother about this, you discover that the mother has gone
back to feeding him with a spoon because she feels he will not eat enough
unless she helps him.
a. What might you say to Zack’s mother?

A Systematic Approach (1 of 3)
These steps will help any young child develop increased independence over
time:
(1) Specifying a goal for learning
(2) Breaking the skill down into small steps
(3) Using a systematic teaching approach
(4) Using data to evaluate progress
(5) Modifying the teaching as needed

Specifying a Goal for Learning
• Achievable and developmentally appropriate
• Be specific and include short-term objectives
Breaking the Skill into Small Steps
• Task analysis
• Number of steps will vary greatly depending on child’s ability

Using a Systematic Teaching Approach
• Shaping, prompting, fading and cueing
• Forward or backward chaining
Using Data to Evaluate Progress
• Monitor behaviors and track effectiveness of teaching strategies
Modifying the Teaching as Needed
• Review data and examine if teaching strategies are working

Knowledge Check 1
What methodology is used to ensure the achievement of a task analysis?
a. Describe the steps in detail
b. Perform the skill yourself and write down all the steps you take to complete the task
c. Ask a child to perform the skill and write down all the steps taken to complete the task
d. Be clear

Knowledge Check 1 Answer
What methodology is used to ensure the achievement of a task analysis?
Answer: b. Perform the skill yourself and write down all the steps you take to complete
the task.

Skills and Strategies for Snack/Mealtime (1 of 2)
Self-Help Skills
• Hand washing
• Setting the table
• Pouring from a small pitcher
• Using a straw
• Unzipping/opening a lunch box
• Spreading with a knife
• Wiping up spills
• Putting away their belongings
• Throwing away trash
• Cleaning the table
Strategies
• Establish a snack/meal routine
• Provide a place mat or nametag that
indicates where each child should sit
• Create an area where supplies needed
(cups, napkins, plates) are easily
accessed

Skills and Strategies for Snack/Mealtime (2 of 2)
Social Skills/Communication
• Waiting one’s turn
• Making choices
• Requesting help
• Passing out items (place mats, napkins,
cups, food)
• Counting out items
• Asking questions and engaging in a
conversation
• Making comparisons
Strategies
• Assign daily/weekly jobs related to the
routine
• Provide visuals to remind children about
how much food to take
• Create topic pictures or a list of
questions to ask to keep the
conversation going
• Seat children who are nonverbal next to
children who are verbal
• Let the children pass the container of
food to each other

Knowledge Check Activity 2
Which example provides the opportunity for a child to practice social and
communication skills in the first instance and self-help skills in the other?
a. Wiping up skills; waiting one’s turn
b. Putting away belongings; making choices
c. Requesting help; unzipping
d. Throwing away trash; counting out items

Knowledge Check Activity 2 Answer
Which example provides the opportunity for a child to practice social and
communication skills in the first instance and self-help skills in the other?
Answer: c. Requesting help; unzipping.

Maturation and Learning: Toilet Training
• Once thought to be totally dependent on maturation
• Often defined as an internal process that governs the natural unfolding of innate
(“preprogrammed”) skills and abilities
• Can be task-analyzed and taught in its component parts
• Ordinary toilet training includes twelve to fifteen steps
• Children with and without developmental disabilities may need certain steps
to be broken down further into smaller steps

Special Considerations
• Teachers’ demonstrations must be conducted from the child’s perspective
• Perform the hand and finger movements in the same way that the child will
be expected to reproduce them
• Young children do not have well developed spatial orientation, nor do they
understand reversibility
• Understand importance of suitable clothing when learning self-care skills

Discussion Activity 1
1. Break into small groups
2. Select one of the major steps in the toileting sequence and analyze it into
its component parts
3. Write a three- to five-step program for teaching that subskill to a four-year-
old

Discussion Activity 1 Debrief
1. What major step did your group choose?
2. What component parts were you able to break it down to?
3. What is your group’s three- to five-step program for teaching that subskill to
a four-year-old?

Summary (1 of 2)
Now that the lesson has ended, you should have learned how to:
• Describe self-care skills as part of a curriculum.
• Describe when and how teachers can help children learn self-care skills.
• Outline the five components of a systematic approach to teaching self-care skills.

Summary (2 of 2)
Now that the lesson has ended, you should have learned how to:
• List skills that can be taught during snack/mealtime, and strategies to teach them.
• Explain why maturation is an important aspect to self-care skills, specifically toilet training.

Allen Chapter 14

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