No parent or teacher wants to waste time on fancy curriculums and expensive checklists to teach daily living skills (DLS) only to find out there’s no evidence to support it actually works. Time with our children and students is too valuable, and the chance for greater independence is too important to risk.
That’s why today, we’re sharing a list of evidence-based ways to teach DLS to teens and young adults. These are the time-tested, research-driven ways we know that students learn communication, executive functioning, and the skills needed to thrive into adulthood.
Where to find evidence-based ways to teach daily living skills
The interventions below have been reviewed through the National Clearinghouse on Autism and Evidence & Practice (NCAEP) as evidence-based ways to help unique learners develop adaptive and self-help skills. While not all of the learners we work with have a diagnosis of autism, research still suggests that these techniques work with all types of learners.
Parents and teachers can confidently review the list of interventions below and know that they’ve been vetted as the best ways to help learners grow.
Antecedent-Based Interventions (ABI)
Antecedent-based interventions (ABI) include a variety of modifications to the learner’s environment to change or shape a learner’s behavior. It involves making tiny changes to the environment that help increase the probability of success. More than likely, you’re already using some antecedent strategies at home and in the classroom since they’re popular and easy to implement.
What are some examples of antecedent-based interventions?
Some popular strategies for DLS include:
- Labeling drawers and cabinets to teach organization.
- Offering choices.
- Changing the location of items in the home or classroom.
- Giving a warning before transitioning to a less-preferred skill.
- Using a timer during morning and bedtime routines.
One thing to note, antecedent interventions are often not sufficient alone to teach DLS. If your learner doesn’t know how to complete a skill, giving them a choice or posting a visual schedule is not likely enough to learn a brand new skill. We often have to combine ABI with other items on this list. It’s best to think of them as an extra ‘boost’ that can help students learn skills faster and more efficiently than a strategy to acquire a brand new skill.
Behavioral Momentum Interventions
Behavioral Momentum sounds like a tricky, technical term, but it can be a simple way to motivate learners to complete DLS skills in practice. Behavioral Momentum involves structuring tasks that are less effortful right before those requiring more effort. Thus, a student “gains momentum” through completing the more manageable tasks and then finds it easier to roll right into the more complex tasks.
What skills can Behavioral Momentum be used for?
Behavioral Momentum Interventions work well when your learner finds some skills easier than others, and there’s an easy way to re-order the tasks. Often we think specific DLS skills need to be done in a particular order–but in reality, they can be done in the order that sets your teen up for success.
For example, if showering and dressing are skills your teen doesn’t mind, start the morning routine with those skills instead of “fighting a battle” with breakfast if that’s more challenging. Gain some success and reward your learner for doing more manageable tasks as they build up to less preferred ones.
Exercise and Movement
Does it seem strange to see exercise and movement on a list of evidence-based interventions to teach adaptive and self-help skills? Maybe. But remember, leisure and stress management are among the most important independent living skills our teens need to know. Exercise and movement interventions incorporate physical exertion and/or mindful movement to target a variety of skills and behaviors.
What skills can exercise and movement be used to teach?
Exercise and movement interventions have been shown to boost foundational communication skills (e.g., asking for help, expressing wants and needs, social engagement) and improve executive functioning skills like self-control, attentional control, and planning. Therefore, incorporate exercise and movement as part of maintaining our physical health, enjoying leisure and free time, managing stress, and other Advanced Daily Living Skills.
Functional Communication Training (FCT)
Many of the teens and young adults we work with struggle with communication barriers. Often, they use challenging and maladaptive behaviors to communicate frustration, overwhelm, or difficulty understanding a task. Functional Communication Training (FCT) is a set of practices that replace these challenging behaviors with a more appropriate and effective form of communication. While FCT may not directly teach DLS like dressing, preparing a meal, and riding the bus to school, we firmly believe functional communication is essential to learn these skills.
An example of Functional Communication Training (FCT)
Consider a situation where a teen uses yelling, aggression, or storming off when frustrated or when a skill is too difficult. Now try to teach that teen to grocery shop, ride the bus to work, or drive a car with those behaviors occurring each time they get frustrated. Instead, FCT helps the learner use a replacement communication behavior to communicate the same things (e.g., “I need a break.” “This is too hard, I want to stop.” “I don’t like this. Can we do something different?”) FCT is one of the most effective ways to address problem behaviors in learners who struggle with communication.
Modeling
How often do you find yourself using the phrase “Let me show you.” when you’re teaching your child or student DLS? Modeling or demonstrating the desired behavior for the learner is one of the most common ways we teach new skills. It’s simple, efficient, and often all some students need to pick up on new DLS. Often, we combine modeling with other evidence-based strategies on this list, like prompting and reinforcement.
Prompting
Just as modeling is a “let me show you” method, prompting is a “let me help you” strategy.
Many of the other evidence-based practices on this list also rely on the use of prompting. Prompting procedures include support given to learners that assist them in demonstrating a DLS behavior. There are many different types of prompts, some more effective for particular learners than others. When we use prompting, we select a combination of verbal, gestural, or physical assistance to help them acquire or engage in a targeted behavior or skill. Prompts can be delivered by parents, teachers, and even by peers.
What to know about using prompting?
As mentioned above, not all prompts are effective for all learners. Some prompts may even be aversive if not used correctly (e.g., constant ‘nagging’ from too many verbal prompts; having others in personal space when using a physical guidance prompt). It’s best practice when using prompting to provide an opportunity for your teen to show consent to having help–and to stop if they no longer need or want your help.
Reinforcement
If you’ve worked with learners with unique needs, chances are you’ve encountered using positive reinforcement to teach new skills. Combined with other skills on this list, it’s one of the most effective, evidence-based ways to help students acquire independence in their daily routines. Reinforcement can be used in lots of different ways. In general, it involves arranging certain consequences after a learner demonstrates a behavior that increases the likelihood the learner will display the same behavior in the future.
Examples of reinforcement
Some examples of using reinforcement to teach DLS include:
- Positive praise after your teen washes the dishes (e.g., “It means a lot when you help out.”
- Extra screen time if your teen gets ready for school on time.
- Allowance for completing a weekly chore chart
- Buying favorite snacks after successfully grocery shopping for a list of items.
There are infinite combinations for how parents and teachers can use reinforcement to motivate teens to learn new DLS and complete them independently. For more on motivation, see our guide: 6 Steps to Help Your Child Develop a Strong “Why”
Self-Management
One of the last stages of teaching DLS to teens and young adults is to tackle independence. Once they’ve learned all the required skills, how do we teach them to demonstrate these skills without adult monitoring? Self-management is an intervention package that teaches learners to regulate their behavior independently. With self-management strategies, learners the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, accurately monitor and record their own behaviors, and reinforce themselves for behaving appropriately.
What skills can self-management be used for?
Self-management works well for adaptive and self-help skills, especially when it requires learners to monitor their performance in a routine. Self-monitoring is effective for helping students:
- Stay on task for homework and in the classroom.
- Remember conversation cues and initiate to others.
- Follow schedules of daily routines, including household chores and work tasks.
- Engage in appropriate independent leisure and recreation activities.
Social Skills Training
Even though we don’t often think of DLS as particularly social, many of the essentials of independent living have social components. Other DLS have strong social implications if our learners engage in them incorrectly or inappropriately. Social Skills Training is a group or individual instruction designed to teach learners ways to appropriately and successfully participate in their interactions. Often social skills sessions include teaching the learner the social concept, role-play and practice of the skills, and providing feedback
to help learners acquire and practice the skill.
How social skills training can help teach DLS
Consider some of these DLS activities that require a social interaction (and can be supported through social skills training):
- Writing an email or making a phone call to a friend.
- Having a conversation with a stranger.
- Asking for help finding an item at the grocery store.
- Following a safety plan, including interacting with a first-responder.
- Including a friend in a leisure activity.
Many social skills training programs are enhanced when combined with other evidence-based techniques on this list, including modeling, prompting, and reinforcement.
For an example of how video modeling can be used with social skills training, check out our Real Life Social Skills Academy Conversation Skills Video Course.
Video Modeling
As technology improves, so does our ability to use it to help teens learn new skills. Video modeling is a method of instruction that uses video technology to record and demonstrate a DLS. The learner watches the video and then has an opportunity to perform the target behavior. Skills are shown either right away or in the future. Videos can be made with an adult or peer as a model, or even having the learner record themselves and watch their own performance of the skill at a later time.
What are the perks of video modeling?
Video modeling has become popular among parents and teachers for a variety of reasons, including:
- Helpful for skills that are difficult to pause in real life (e.g., cooking a meal, crossing the street)
- Works well for DLS that are difficult or unsafe to replicate many times (e.g., boarding an airplane, calling 911, taking prescription medication)
- Videos can incorporate a learner’s interests
- Videos displaying DLS are popular and widely accessible on platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
- The learner can help with developing videos and reference them whenever they need on a phone or tablet.
Visual Supports
Among all the evidence-based practices on this list, the one we most commonly reference here on the blog, in life skills coaching, and our materials is using visual supports. Visual supports are concrete cues that provide information about an activity, routine, or expectation. They’re added to the environment to help and support skill demonstration. Some examples of common visual supports are visual schedules, activity checklists, work systems, graphic organizers, visual cues, and scripts.
Many of the Life Skills Advocate Blog articles include sample visual supports because they can be incorporated into so many different DLS and academic skills. For samples, check out our Executive Functioning 101 hub.
Further Reading
- Life Skills Advocate Blog: 25 Daily Living Skills Every Teen Should Know
- Life Skills Advocate Blog: Attentional Control: Long-Term Strategies & Supports for Diverse Learners
- National Clearinghouse on Autism and Evidence-Based Practice
- Real-Life Social Skills Academy: Conversation Skills Video Course
- Life Skills Advocate Blog: Teaching Your Teen to Be Resourceful