Future Reflections Fall 1991
FUNCTIONAL CURRICULUM: JUST COMMON SENSE
by Patty Merryman
Editor's Note: Reprinted from Perceive, a newsletter for parents published by
P.A.V.I.C. of Colorado, the following article was originally titled, "Spring
Conference Time."
One of the most exciting new (it's really old fashioned but full of common
sense) approaches in education is called "Functional Curriculum." It's a way of
looking at the child and asking, "what are other children of that age doing and
how can my child be doing more age-appropriate activities?" As a parent of a
multi-handicapped boy, pegboards and blocks were just not helping in the
activities of daily living and having my child be an integral part of family
life. When the other children had chores, he was playing. They felt picked on
and he felt left out. I decided to use what I had learned in the "functional
curriculum" workshop over the summer months to involve my son in household
chores.
Some of the goals we had set were to improve his short- and long-term
memory, improve tactile discrimination, and to improve motor planning and
orienting objects into a given space. Okay, what daily activities use these
processes? My creative parental mind began to churn.
Short- and Long-Term Memory
I remember in which drawer and where in each drawer I keep each type of
clothing. Time for my six-year-old son to learn where his clothes are stored so
that he can get them in the morning to get dressed. This not only helped his
memory skills but his dressing skills and independence. Yea! Now Mom has one
less job to do, and he is on his way to becoming a more typically independent
six-year-old. Of course, this took my time at the beginning of the summer, but
by the end it was his job entirely.
Tactile Discrimination
How about having my son sort the socks from all of the other clean laundry
in the basket? Although this may not be a normal chore in most homes, it is
useful in our home for the division of labor between the two sisters. All of the
socks are put to the right and all of the other laundry is placed on the left.
This teaches my son left and right as well as giving him much opportunity to
tactually explore and discriminate similar textures. Other laundry tasks are on
the way.
Motor Planning--Orienting Objects in Space
The old pegboard and puzzles just lost out to the silverware divider.
Although for half of the summer, knives, forks, and spoons could be found in any
slot facing any direction, by the end of the summer most utensils were in the
right slots even if not perfect. I found some preliminary planning had to be
done on my part. He had to be in a chair that was of adequate height and he had
to have the container, from which he was removing the silverware, at a slightly
lower level in order for him to have the ability to lift them up and out. These
problems were solved with a step-stool chair for him to sit on near the drawer,
and with a regular chair for the container to sit on. I also was careful to
remove all sharp knives and objects prior to his beginning the task.
These tasks not only helped my son reach his IEP goals over the summer but
also gave him a sense of responsibility to the family. He has a job that is his,
and now he gets very upset if he hears someone else putting away the silverware.