Life skills instruction for children with developmental disabilities
A simple tiered life-skills program with visual cards and slower pacing teaches preschoolers with delays to follow instructions, talk, share, and make friends—without extra rewards.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Robison et al. (2020) taught 12 preschool life skills to nine children with developmental delays. The skills were instruction-following, communication, tolerance, and friendship behaviors.
They used a tiered class-wide plan. First, all kids got short whole-group lessons. Then, staff gave one-on-one help with visual cards and longer wait times between tries.
What they found
Every child learned all 12 skills. The skills were still there four weeks after teaching stopped.
No extra rewards were needed. The visual cards and slower pace were enough.
How this fits with other research
Haring (1985) showed that toy-play skills spread to new toys in the same class. Robison adds that life skills also stay put once learned.
Shan et al. (2024) later used visual schedules and video clips to help teens with autism pick and finish leisure tasks. Both studies show visual supports keep working as kids grow.
Hassin-Herman et al. (1992) moved kids from 1:1 to small-group teaching and still kept gains. Robison’s tiered plan gives a preschool start for that same path.
Why it matters
You can run this life-skills plan in any preschool room. Start with quick group lessons, then add visual cards and longer waits for kids who need more help. No extra candy or iPad time is required. The skills stick, and you set kids up for later group work in elementary school.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The Preschool Life Skills program is an intervention package designed to teach functional skills to prevent problem behavior in typically developing children. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of the instructional package (renamed "Life Skills") with children with developmental disabilities. The program involved teaching 12 life skills to nine participants across four instructional units. The units were instruction following, functional communication, tolerance of denial and delay, and friendship skills. Teachers provided instruction through a three-tiered instructional approach, starting with class-wide instruction followed by small group and one-to-one instruction as necessary. We extended previous research by using visual prompts during all three tiers and progressively increasing intertrial intervals during one-to-one instruction. Results indicated that the intervention led to skill acquisition with all nine participants. The skills maintained 4 weeks after instruction ended.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2020 · doi:10.1002/jaba.602