Your Therapy Source Magazine for Pediatric Therapists May 2015 | Page 17

Encouraging Functional Independence

As therapists, teachers and parents our job is to “help children to help themselves” as Maria
Montessori once stated. Here are several tips to encourage functional independence of life
skills in children:
1. Create an environment where children can be independent. For example, if your child is
working on getting dressed, make sure all the clothes, socks, shoes and coat are within reach
of the child. If your child is practicing pouring a drink, make sure the container and the cup
are an appropriate size for smaller hands. Start where children can be successful by
themselves ie climbing smaller trees and work up to climbing larger trees.
2. Observe. Before we jump in and offer help, take a step back and observe can the child
complete a skill independently. If the child can not, can you simply modify the environment
rather than helping the child so the skill can be completed?
3. Wait and be patient. Children need to take time to process directions and information.
Allow the child ample time to complete the task. Try to plan extra time to get ready for outings
or food preparation so children can take their time.
4. Try demonstrating skills rather than providing multiple step directions. Keep the
demonstration very simple so the child is able to interpret the information independently.
5. Practice, practice, practice. Repetition is the key to functional independence. Children
need many trials to be successful.
Life Skills of the Month includes 12 life skill hand outs
for parents and 12 posters for the classroom or therapy
room. Review a life skill in the classroom or therapy
session with the student(s). Follow up with the
corresponding hand out to send home to parents. Use
this packet, to help with carry over of important life skills
for ALL children. Also, includes a
reward chart for students to take home to earn prizes.
Find out more at
http://yourtherapysource.com/lifeskills.html