MORE ABOUT DAILY LIFE SKILLS INDEPENDENCE HUB

Students with disabilities need to be taught a functional curriculum over a long period of  time so that in the future they will be more independent and have a higher quality of life.  According to Brown, McLean, Hamre-Nietupski, Pumpian, Creto, and Gruenewald (1979), Falvey, (1989) and Snell and Browder (1987), “…it is a curriculum that teaches functional life  skills, or in other words, the skills necessary to live, work, and have fun in an inclusive  community” (p.86) 

“The more skills adults acquire, the more enhanced their quality of life” (Dollar,  Fredrick, Alberto, & Luke, 2011, p. 189). Duker, Didden and Siggafoos (2008) said “explicit  training is often required to teach the necessary skills”. Currently students with disabilities are  not receiving a functional curriculum early enough or they are mostly being taught a curriculum  heavy in academics. This is happening due to NCLB now ESSA. These laws require all students  to be fully prepared for college and a career. Also, included in these laws were the Common  Core State Standards (CCSS). The CCSS were developed so that students are learning the same  information no matter age, race, income, or location of the student. However, what the creators  of these standards failed to look at closely is the moderate and severely disabled children. This  population of students will not be going to college and need to learn how to care for themselves  and how to interact with community members. The ultimate goal of education is still the same  but it takes different means and ways for children to get there. The Council for Exceptional  Children (1997) wrote this about the goal of special education students:

 

The fundamental purposes of special education are the same as those  

of regular education: the optimal development of the student as a  

skillful, free, and purposeful person, able to plan and manage his or  

her own life and to reach his or her highest potential as an individual  

and as a member of society. Indeed, special education developed as  

a highly specialized area of education in order to provide children  

with exceptionalities with the same opportunities as other children  

for a meaningful, purposeful, and fulfilling life. (p. 1) 

​

As such, staff members in schools need to know the importance of teaching a functional  curriculum to students with disabilities and how to do so in an education system that focuses  heavily on academics.