Development of Daily Living and Life Skills

Cultivating life skills can improve confidence and make it easier to manage stressful situations. They can also help you form fulfilling relationships and feel healthier and happier!

For people with disabilities, learning life skills can be challenging. The right approach is key! Knowing when it’s time to seek assistance is important.

Self-care

Taking time to take care of oneself physically and mentally is essential for overall wellbeing. Self-care can look different for each person and doesn’t have to be expensive. Self-care activities may include a variety of things that make you feel happy, healthy, and nourished.

A large portion of self-care involves the activities of daily living (ADLs). These are the basic skills that allow people to perform everyday tasks, such as eating and drinking, dressing, bathing, grooming, and toileting. It also includes safety awareness and participation in leisure and recreation activities.

Self-care can also involve healthcare management. This includes the ability to check blood pressure with an electronic sphygmomanometer, test blood sugar levels for diabetes, and use asthma inhalers. It also involves knowing where to go for health information and how to access it.

Self-advocacy

Whether it’s requesting accommodations from a teacher, seeking help with a difficult situation at work or home or fighting for your civil rights, self-advocacy skills are essential to making your voice heard. Learning how to advocate for yourself is a critical skill for anyone, and it’s important that young people are taught these skills early in life so they can stand up for what matters to them.

When teaching self-advocacy, it’s also important to teach rephrasing and alternative ways of communicating challenges. For example, if someone is unable to write, they can still communicate that taking notes in class is a challenge for them and ask for pre-printed notes from the teacher.

Self-advocacy requires understanding what matters most to you and setting boundaries that help you stay safe. It’s like a dance you set your own pace, and your allies will be there to help guide you. This is a powerful way to live a fulfilling life!

Communication

Every day, people engage in a multitude of activities. These activities may seem automatic, but they define the quality of life. For individuals with cognitive health

challenges and physical disabilities, however, these daily tasks can present obstacles to living a fulfilling life.

Communication is one of the most crucial developmental life skills. It encompasses verbal, nonverbal and written methods of transferring information. Learning to communicate effectively enables an individual to better understand others and respond thoughtfully.

Aside from allowing an individual to connect with their community, developing life skills allows them to build confidence and self-esteem. This can be especially important when dealing with transitions, as having a sense of personal worth makes it easier to cope with difficult situations.

It’s important to teach and practice these skills in realistic settings. For example, if you’re teaching someone to take the bus, it’s necessary to actually ride on the bus to get a feel for how it works and what steps are involved in using it.

Awareness

Awareness is a development of daily living and life skills that helps people to better navigate their professional and personal lives. It involves the ability to recognise what tasks need to be completed, when and how. This can include organisation skills, such as knowing what needs to be done at work and keeping track of appointments or other deadlines. It also includes awareness of social or conversational context, such as eye contact or facial expressions.

Parents can help teach their children life skills by setting up activities that involve a range of different skills (for example, assigning chores and budgeting exercises through an allowance). Schools and other learning environments can also play a role in education by teaching children about how to take action when they encounter challenges. This could include how to deal with bullying or how to build resilience when faced with problems at home or school. It might also include how to manage their own money and how to travel independently, for example.