Teaching daily living skills to young adults with autism : the creation of a curriculum guide for special education teachers

The purpose of this thesis project was to compile a curriculum on teaching daily living skills for students transitioning from the school system to adulthood that is research-based and differentiated for students at various skill levels. A multi-level review procedure was implemented to develop the curriculum. First, a review of the literature was conducted to identify the topics and instructional methods to be included in the curriculum. Second, a panel of national experts were sent a draft of the curriculum to assess the accuracy and clarity of the information provided. Third, parents were surveyed to determine what they thought was important for their children to learn and how comfortable they felt with the proposed teaching strategies. Fourth, special education teachers were surveyed to determine their comfort level with teaching each of the topics outlined and using the proposed strategies. Results of the multi-level review procedure indicated that daily living skills were determined to be an important part of a transition curriculum. Further, the results provided supporting evidence that the topics outlined were important topics for this population to learn, the suggested teaching procedures were effective, and the format of the curriculum guide was a helpful tool for educators teaching this subject. Implications for teachers developing daily living skills curriculum for students transitioning to adulthood are discussed