Learning self-help skills - eating, dressing,
toileting, and personal hygiene - can be challenging for
people with autism, but is essential for independence.
This book thoroughly describes a systematic approach
that parents (and educators) can use to teach basic
self-care to children, ages 24 months to early teens,
and even older individuals. With an encouraging tone,
the authors - behaviour analysts and psycholo-gists -
emphasise that it's worthwhile to devote the extra time
and effort now to teach skills rather than have your
child be forever dependent on others. The many case
studies throughout the book depict individuals with
deficits in specific selfcare tasks, and demonstrate how
a coordinated and systematic approach is effective in
teaching more complex skills. For example, a 12-year-old
with the self-feeding skills of a toddler, who was
excluded from the school cafeteria, is taught to stay at
the table to eat a full meal using utensils.A chapter is
devoted to each of the four skill areas (eating,
dressing, toileting, personal hygiene) offering detailed
insight and specific instruction strategies. Appendices
contain forms to complete for task analyses,
instructional plans, and data collection. With the
information in this book, parents can immediately start
teaching their child, or refer back to the book to
fine-tune skills as their child develops.
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