Page 5 - Lifeskills Lesson Plans Volume 1 Digital Version

P. 5

FOREWORD

In our work as speech-language pathologists, we have found great challenges in working with
the students in life skills classrooms. These classrooms, also referred to as Func onal Life Skills,

Func onal Communica on Classes, Structured Learning Centers, and Low-Incidence Classrooms, are

generally self-contained classes in which students are separated from the general educa on
popula on for a por on or all of their day in order to receive the support that they need to be
successful in their community.

Students in elementary life skills classrooms are generally between 6 and 12 years of age and

they have one or more of the following disabili es:

 Orthopedic Impairment (OI)

 Other Health Impairment (OHI)

I
 ntellectual Disability (ID)

 Emo onal Disturbance (ED)

 Learning Disability (LD)

 Speech Impairment (SI)

 Au sm (AU)

 Trauma c Brain Injury (TBI)

 Auditory Impairment (AI)

 Visual Impairment (VI)

Although these children have a severe level of impairment, it is our responsibility as

professionals to expose them to age-appropriate material and content regardless of their level of

func oning (ASHA, 2010). The seeming disconnect between the rigor of the academic curriculum and

the overall communica on levels of these children can be overwhelming. Language skills are the
founda on of learning and it is our job to bridge the gap between a student’s current language skills

and the way academic material is presented so that students are able to learn new concepts and

par cipate to their fullest poten al in the academic seAng.

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