Life Skills Activities for Secondary Students with Special Needs

For educators, parents, and others involved in teaching adolescents with special needs, here is a unique collection of 190 illustrated activity sheets with related exercises, discussion questions, and evaluation suggestions to help students acquire the basic skills necessary to achieve independence and success in everyday living.

Each activity sheet focuses on a specific skill within the context of real-life situations and includes complete teacher directions for its effective use, from objective and introduction through optional extension activities and ways to assess students’ learning.

For quick access, all of these ready-to-use materials are printed in a big spiral-bound format for easy photocopying and organized into seven sections. Here’s an overview of the major topics (and sample activity titles) covered in each section:

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS—30 activities focusing on Uniqueness of Myself and Others (Spotlight on Me)…Friendship Skills (qualities of a Good Friend)…Being Part of a Family (Members of a Family)

COMMUNICATION SKILLS—15 lessons that teach Understanding Others (Being a Careful Listener)…Expressing Yourself (Be Convincing)…Conflict Resolution (Compromising)

ACADEMIC & SCHOOL SKILLS—32 activities related to Reading (Reading on the Job)…Writing (Proofreading)…math (Improving Math Skills)…Study Skills (Taking Notes)

PRACTICAL LIVING SKILLS—39 activities focusing of Getting Information (What Do You Need to Know?)…Money Management (Making a Budget)…Travel (Using a Timetable)…Driving (Car Insurance)…Home Management (Home Repairs, Preparing a Meal)

VOCATIONAL SKILLS—22 lessons featuring Present Skills and Interests (What Are You Good At?)…School Record and Planning (Finishing High School)…Working (Interviewing)

LIFESTYLE CHOICES—27 activities covering Values (What Are Values?)…Personal Habits and Choices (Teens and Drinking)…Sexual Issues (Teenage Pregnancy, HIV and AIDS)…Reputation (How You Appear to Others)…Stress (Stressful Events and Situations)

PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS—25 lessons on Handling Problem Situations (Adjusting to Change)…Making Decisions (Needs vs. Wants)…Resource Management (Staying on Task)…Goal-Setting (Realistic Goals)…Risk-Taking (Learning from Mistakes)

Also included is a list of parent activities which can be reproduced and given to parents to use in conjunction with the activities being worked on in class. You may supplement thus list with your own activities and/or worksheets to provide extra reinforcement of new skills.

You’ll find these activities are completely flexible. You can use them in any order for a variety of purposes—to introduced, teach and/or reinforce specific life skills. Moreover, the activities can easily be modified to meet individual or group needs.