One of the most helpful books on my shelf is Steps to Independence: Teaching Everyday Skills to Children with Special Needs by Baker and Brightman.
It is a book full of step-by-step teaching information. It tells you how to break tasks down and how to avoid pitfalls. It is also full of tasks to teach. It has chapters on get ready skills, toilet training (I didn't have it back then), behavior management, independent living skills and more. It teaches you how to teach and how to evaluate. I admit that we don't always follow the process exactly (I really can't take that much process sometimes), but I never fail to find helpful information and ideas
While I find the book sort of frustrating sometimes because it is so process-y, this is of course why I need it. I find breaking things down hard to even think about sometimes and this book always gives me a place to start.
Beyond this it fully acknowledges the problem of creating kids who are totally cue-dependent and has you teaching the child to ask themselves "what comes next?" Teaching that thought process has been the biggest "step to independence" for us. It gets me out of the middle of the task once she has the steps. From taking showers to working on schoolwork, to playing games, to household chores, this book has been a HUGE help at our house.
For other book recommendations check out this post!
4 comments:
Sounds like a good resource. Books with lots of detailed processes aren't fun to read but they sure are nice when you have a specific question about how to do something!
It sounds like a great book! I bet you can use it for ABA as well. :)
It is a great book--don't get me wrong, it is well-written and presented. Easy to understand. Just lots of steps!
We don't really use ABA, but I am pretty sure this book is used for it.
Yes, I also have it, and it is very good
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