Page 14 - Lifeskills Lesson Plans Volume 1 Digital Version

Create Rou nes

Consistent rou nes are a cri cal part of working with high needs students because they help

reduce the cogni ve demands, thereby freeing greater capacity for learning (Leinhardt, Weidman,

& Hammond, 1987). Developing a rou ne is essen al for allowing students to understand what is
expected and what is coming next. Crea ng rou nes provides mul ple opportuni es for

repe on of specific speech and language targets, as well as generaliza on between different

themes. An addi onal benefit of consistent rou nes is that when children know what is coming
next, they have a lower level of anxiety and are be8er prepared to learn (Jensen, 2009). Each

lesson in these units follows the same basic structure for rou nes and ac vi es. This allows

students to learn the rou ne well, thereby maximizing their opportuni es to learn.

Each lesson begins with a sugges on for objects to be used to work on pre-linguis c skills that e

in with the content covered in that specific lesson. For example, if we are doing a lesson that
focuses on body parts, we would focus on joint a8en on goals within the context of the academic

topic. A lesson on body parts could incorporate a puzzle ac vity in which you tap a puzzle piece

and bring the child’s a8en on to the “part” to be inserted into the “whole.” Record the amount

of support that is needed to have the child successfully take and place the piece. Individual
a8en on and joint a8en on are cri cal for communica on. Here are easy-to-follow protocols and

cita ons for more informa on.

Ini ate Joint A8en on

The protocol for ini a ng joint a8en on requires that students perform each level for three days
in a row (Whalen and Schreibman, 2003).

1. Ini a ng a point

2. Following eye gaze of communica on partner

Use a Joint Attention Protocol

Whalen and Schriebman (2003) proposed protocols for training children to engage in and ini ate

joint a8en on. They suggest that at each level of the joint a8en on protocol, students should
take the object of interest and engage with it for at least five seconds, five mes in a row, for three

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