Written by,

Jennifer Freeman, Orientation and Mobility Specialist

Orientation and Mobility Specialists around the world face the same issues every day- a student who can complete all of their O&M tasks in class, but still can’t be as independent or successful as they’d like. For many of us, it can feel frustrating to teach our students how to cross the street, ride a bus, and solicit assistance when they don’t have the ability to get dressed on their own.

We are so thrilled to introduce you to Jennifer Fullerton, a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist in California who does an outstanding job of incorporating Independent Living Skills in to her Orientation and Mobility lessons!

                 -Kassy

Disclaimer: Jenn receives a portion of the sale when you purchase a Rock the Cane Sweater from the Zazzles link below. None of the other links are affiliate links. All opinions, strategies, and comments are of Jenn Freeman’s and do not represent any company linked in either the blog post or resources below.

Welcome to my blog series about how to foster independent living skills (ILS) with your child who has multiple impairments or is of preschool-age. As an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Specialist, I am lucky enough to work with individuals who have visual impairments entering the school system at age three, and I work closely with them throughout their school careers. During my tenure, I started to pick up on a pattern of behavior when I was assessing students.

What are Independent Living Skills?

Independent Living Skills (ILS) are skills that we need in order to lead independent lives. These skills, which include being able to dress ones’ self, use the toilet, brush our teeth, shower, and organize our belongings are foundational skills required for us to live by ourselves.

My Startling Realization about Daily Living and Visual Impairments

My students were learning the advanced O&M skills such as how to navigate a campus, cross streets and shop, but they were unable to independently shower, get dressed, manage their clothing or accomplish several daily living tasks.

I even had a 20-year-old student denied acceptance to weekend programs and adult programs such as the Junior Blind of America because she could not shower herself. Don’t get me wrong. I collaborate with teachers and parents regarding independent living skills and did so for the 20-year-old student throughout the years, but I realized she was not working on the skills at home.

The Michigan Independent Living Skills checklists was just what I needed to explain to parents how to help their children at home.

Success = Independence in All Areas of Life

If you want to help a child who has vision loss be successful long term, you have to help them learn to be independent in all areas of life.

My biggest tip to parents is to avoid the excuse “I don’t have time” at all costs. By incorporating learning opportunities in everyday life, we can progress from learned helplessness to success and independence! Remember: over-helping = hindering whereas teaching = life-long independence.

The IEP Team: Seeking Advice and Working Together

I realize that all children with vision loss are unique, so if my strategies don’t work for you, contact your student’s Vision Impaired (VI) team and they will help you find a way to teach a particular skill. After all we are a team, and this is part of our job.

Introducing the Independent Living Skills Checklists

In this four-part blog series, we will walk through the Michigan Independent Living Skills Checklists together.

I will give you broken down examples on how to work on each task in your student’s everyday life. We will learn how to help parents release those responsibilities to their own children. Instead of tying their adolescent child’s shoes and helping them get dressed, the children will now be able to do those skills on their own!

Our end goal is to help the parents of your students to allow your student be as independent as possible in all areas of life. We need parents and other staff members involved. As a school employee and for many ethical reasons, there are some skills we just are not able to work on like parents can in the home.

When you have checked off every skill in a category, celebrate! This is a great baseline for how far your student has come.When the entire checklist is complete, move on to the new age-appropriate checklist.

The number one thing for working on any of the independent living skills is to teach the individual who has vision loss is to be SUCCESSFUL!

That person does not have to learn to do everything like a mainstream child who has normal vision.

Download your copy of the Independent Living Skills + Parent Strategies Google Doc

Independent Living Skills List:

Getting Dressed with a Visual Impairment

1. Skill: I Can Describe My Clothes!

(color,  stripes, v-neck,  textures, designs,  jeans, dress clothing, etc.)

Strategies to help your student be able to describe their clothes:

• Everyday before the child goes to school, have the parent describe to him what he is wearing. Professionals that encounter your student should do the same. In no time it will become a habit.

• Have the parent talk to their child about what he/she is wearing.

• Remember to tell your student what you are wearing. It’s a great way to develop the concept of color, patterns and the concept smooth or rough. Even if your child cannot see, he needs to learn about colors.

  • Try using a Color ID app to help your student learn to identify colors on their own clothes.

  • Check out this YouTube video demonstrating the color ID app.

• Have the parent explore their child’s wardrobe and talk about his clothing.

• Have the parent teach their child where they place things so that he can access them to learn to get dressed independently.

  • Have the parent organize their wardrobe by color to help their child develop the prerequisite skills required to manage their own clothing choices

  • Check out this link by VisionAware so that you can learn to organize clothes when you are blind or how low vision

2. I Can Dress Myself!

(snaps,  zips, buttons,  buckles, right side out,  etc.)

Strategies to help your student learn to dress themselves:

• This is a great time to discuss the names of fingers. In order to have the dexterity required to teach your student to move their fingers to snap, button or zip, he needs to know what you are referring to.

  • Use thumb, pointer/index, middle, ring, and pinky.

  • If your student needs to make the pinching motion to button his pants, he needs to place the tip of his index and thumb against each other so that they are touching.

  • Talk him verbally through a position before trying to guide him  hand-under-hand.

  • Buy a snap, zipper, button, buckle board or stuffed animal and practice with your child.

• Allow the student to zip up their own jacket when you are not in a rush so that he can learn to do it on his own.

• Have the parent buy sweatshirts or vests with hoods and zippers. Have your child start with placing the hood on their head to orient themselves to the clothing. From there, work on teaching your child to align the zipper.

  • You can order a "Rock the Cane" jacket from Zazzles.

  • They are pricey but you can buy an Under Armour MagZip jacket for your child. Individuals can zip their jackets with just one hand.

  • Check out this Youtube video of the MagZip. Start the video at 1:10 to see how the zipper works.

2.A. Clothes Organization Tips:

• Help facilitate independent dressing by preparing drawers that have complete outfits for each day of the week. Label each drawer with the day of the week either by using bold large letters or Braille labeling them.

• Have the parents allow their child to pick their own clothes. Remember, organization will help the person with vision loss long term.

• Prior to preparing the drawers, involve the child in the process. Have him or her help with laundry, discuss how to do laundry, work on folding skills and do this as a routine.

• You can remind the parent to try to not choose all the clothing for their child. Take him shopping and involve him in the process. Talk about the size of clothes that he wears and where you buy the clothes.

• Shopping experiences are a great time to work on the concepts above regarding color, patterns, textures and how material feels.

• Some kids have sensory needs so involving him in the process will help you determine if the material or feel is just right for your child.

• As an O&M specialist, offer to go shopping with parents and do a lesson so that the parent is able to see how you would run a lesson, describe clothing and orient the child to the store.

3. I Can Put on my Socks and Shoes!

(correct feet, fasten shoes – velcro or buckle)

Strategies to help your student put on their socks and shoes:

• Put a dot or marker on the bottom or back of one foot so that the child can tell the difference between his left and right shoe. You can try nail polish or a foam/tactile marker. Put a sticker on the top of one foot to help your child tell the difference between which shoe. Do what works for you! You can buy dot markers on Amazon or MaxiAids by following this link.

• If your student has ambulatory issues, the parents can consider purchasing a shoe horn. They make them in all kinds of lengths.

• If a shoe with laces impedes their independence, try different shoe fastenings.

  • Use velcro or slip on shoes at first to help your child be independent.

  • Consider magnetic shoe closures! Follow the YouTube video link to watch how to install and use the magnetic shoe closures. The magnetic closures can be found for purchase on Amazon or by searching on Google.

4. I Can Describe and Identify My Belongings

(boots, coats, backpack, etc.)

Strategies to help your student describe and identify their belongings:

• Place a keychain, string, key ring, luggage zipper pull or soda tab on your child's backpack. This will help him to distinguish his backpack from others.  

• Have your student really feel and explore his own coats, boots and backpack so that he knows what they feel like.

• Teach your child to place his coats, boots and backpack in the same location at school or home. That includes teaching him how to use a hook or hanger. Do NOT just do it for him.

• Have the parent place things in consistent locations to help their child learn to locate and manage their own belongings. Be cognizant of when you want to grab things for him because it’s quicker. Start young to help him be successful and learning to manage his own stuff.

• Backpacks are always a challenge for my students to manage. One of the easiest ways to teach him to use a backpack is to have him put it on backwards. That way the backpack remains in the same place and directionally becomes easier to manage.

• Place identifying markers in the child’s cubby to help him locate his belongings. Identifying markers can be tactile shapes or Braille labels.

Tracking Independent Living Skills Goals for the Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team of Students with Visual and Multiple Impairments

Instead of using paper to track progress, I made the ILS lists shareable through Google Documents, and now parents, teachers and myself have access to them. We check off skills the child has learned by highlighting them.

What I found is that it has made me a better overall teacher because I am not just focused on one lesson at a time. I am making my lessons as functional as possible by incorporating multiple goals.

Example IEP Goals that Include the Michigan ILS Checklist

“By annual review 2020, student will demonstrate the ability to gain a minimum of 8 new Michigan Exiting Elementary school tasks in the following categories eating, cooking, household chores, laundry, safety, telephone, time, money, medical/health and self advocacy with an accuracy of 80%, as measured by the orientation and mobility specialist.”

or

“By annual review 2020, given the Michigan Independent Living Skills Guide Exiting Preschool checklist, student will gain a minimum of 5 new functional living skills from the guide, as measured by staff and the orientation and mobility specialist.”

Download your copy of the Independent Living Skills Checklist + Parent Strategies Google Doc

How do you incorporate independent living skills in your Orientation and Mobility lessons? Leave a comment below and let us know!

Resources and Acknowledgements for this post.