Introducing Life Skill Downloads - Bathing
I've talked recently about our life skills list. This is a list of life skills we've come up with of things my daughter, a seven year old autistic girl, is able to do with or without accommodations to help her to succeed. The first thing we did was bathing. Up until this point, my husband or I was helping her with washing her hair, but I felt like this was something she really could do on her own with some guidance. I wrote all the steps out and put them on the wall in the bathroom here in Argentina. After doing this, I thought about all of the other things that would be helpful to her and other people as well. I decided to make a whole life skills download and make it accessible for other people!
Introducing Life Skill Downloads - Bathing | Setting Up the Checklist
The life skills downloads go along with the social stories, schedule boards and all the other things I already have in the shop. This download is going to walk anyone through how to do each task along with pictures for each. There are two different versions of the download. The first version is just written out like a checklist so you can check off each step. The second version has each step written out so it can be put on a shower wall or in a bathroom with several images that go with each step. Since the life skill is bathing, I did lists for both taking a bath and a shower.
Our current setup here in Argentina is a little different than it would be at home. The download has suggestions on supplies needed as well as instructions in each step. At home I would laminate the steps, but since I don't have it here I just put the instructions in plastic protective sheets. I wanted to add images so they are readable with the text, but also so anyone who needs more of a visual will be able to use it.
Something I was very specific about in the steps was referencing a quarter size amount of shampoo, conditioner and soap. I made sure to have a quarter as a visual so it could be easy to reference. I knew how important it was for my daughter to feel confident that it is the right size when it is all printed out. After I printed out the checklist and images, I took the steps with the images and cut each page in half because and I started putting them inside of these little plastic protector pages I found at our local store. I split up the checklist so the first page is all about getting into the tub, getting the water to the right temperature and shampooing. The second page goes through conditioning and the third page goes through washing body parts and getting out of the tub. I liked how doing it this way split everything evenly. I also included supplies you'll need like shampoo, conditioner, a silicone body scrubber, bath soap, and a cup for rinsing out hair.
I ended up using 19 protective sheets. If having them hung somewhere isn't important to you, then you can put it all in one binder so you are able to reference it later. When I hung it, I put nine steps on each side and had to move it around a couple of times until I was sure it was at a good place for my daughter to be able to see. My daughter and I talked about it and she told me she wanted the first nine steps vertical and then the next nine steps vertical next to that because that works best for her brain. She loved how it turned out and actually used it the night we put it up.
Hopefully this is helpful to someone in your life, it has been very helpful for us! There will be more life skill downloads coming in the next few months, so keep an eye out for that. You can find the link for the download here.
