Resources to Help Teach Children and Adults to Sequence Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)

Self-care and daily life skills are a crucial part of life and include some of the most important life skills needed for independent living. As a member at the table to help support our students, clients, and family members we work with, we all share a common goal to help establish, restore, and maintain their ability to execute basic and instrumental activities of daily living. That’s why supporting children and young adults as they learn the steps to sequence activities of daily living is an important skill to learn functional independence.

Activities of daily living are broken up in 2 different categories and include Basic Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. Basic Activities of Daily Living, otherwise known as self-care, includes basic living activities such as dressing, hygiene, toileting, eating, grooming, and sleeping. Instrumental Activities of Daily Living are more complex activities, and include activities that are vital for children and young adults to prepare for independent living situations, such as cooking, cleaning, health maintenance, shopping, budgeting, and caring for pets.

Each of these activities of daily living involve a series of steps that need to be followed in order to properly execute each task. We can help support children and young adults to learn the sequential performance of each task by breaking down the activity into small steps. We can also provide visual sequencing images to help provide visual cues to help guide children and young adults through the sequence of steps. By providing explicit instruction on each step involved in the process and offering corresponding visual supports, we can help promote success through repetition and visualization to support independence for children and adults on tasks involving daily living skills.

I’ve rounded up some of my favorite print & go printable resources, and digital task cards to help children and young adults learn the steps involved in a variety of tasks. These truly are perfect for a variety of ages and can be used in both the home and school environment. Simply print these out, laminate for increased durability, add velcro strips, and have children and young adults practice sequencing the steps in the correct order. You can snag all of these resources by clicking on the images below.

PRINT & GO RESOURCES

Spring 4-Step Sequencing Life Skills in Activities of Daily Living Print & Go

Summer 4-Step Sequencing Life Skills in Activities of Daily Living Print & Go

Fall 4-Step Sequencing Life Skills in Activities of Daily Living Print & Go

Winter 4-Step Sequencing Activities of Daily Living Print & Go

3-Step Sequencing Life Skills Activities of Daily Living

4-Step Sequencing Life Skills Activities of Daily Living Print & Go

5-Step Sequencing Life Skills Activities of Daily Living Print & Go

DIGITAL RESOURCES

Digital task cards are always a hit with students and clients of ALL ages! Boom Cards™ can be used on your computer, smart board and iPad and are teletherapy-compatible and can be used for distance learning. Boom Cards are also printable for those students who would benefit from this activity in a paper-based format. I’ve got several BUNDLES and individual resources that I’ll link here. Click on any image below to purchase.