Growing Beans Class: Life Skills Class for Special Needs

//QUESTION TIME//

Teens and young adults need to be able to manage day-to-day tasks on their own before moving away from home.

#1: What do you think about having a Life Skills class for Teens with Special Needs aged 11 to 15 years?

//Sign Up for a Trial Class Next Week!//
Life Skills Education for Special Needs

Good news! A little bean told us to invite for a trial class on our first class next week at RM100, before deciding if you'd like to commit to the full term!

Don't worry about paying the full RM400 until you've decided next week!

****
ABOUT GROWING BEANS

Growing Beans Class is a Living Skills Class for Special Needs designed to target and build practical and functional skills required to live independently and alongside others in the community and at school.

We aim to develop, support, and empower every child and adult with their individual talent and skills necessary for them to live independently, work in society, and enjoy life in the community.

We believe all children are unique individuals with a diverse but individualised needs. Hence, we strongly advocate for in creating the right environment, building on each child's strengths and weaknesses, respecting and appreciating their special qualities, and offering the right support and care to create successful blooming moments!

What are some of the techniques effective for teaching life skills to children with special needs?

There are a set of techniques that have been developed and can be very effective in teaching life skills to children with special needs. And the good news is that these techniques can be equally effective for teaching just about any skill to just about anyone—no matter what their abilities or challenges.

Task Analysis. This is a process for breaking down any given task into its smaller parts. For instance, brushing teeth includes finding a toothbrush, toothpaste, and cup, putting toothpaste on the brush, brushing the bottom teeth, rinsing, brushing the top teeth, rinsing again, cleaning the brush, and putting all the equipment away properly.

Using a Visual Guide. Many parents create visual guides to help their children with special needs to make sense of, remember, and get comfortable with the steps involved in a task. The visual guide can include photos or clip-art style images of each step in the process.

Prompting and Fading. At first, a child with special needs may need a lot of help in remembering and properly completing each step in a task. Prompting may involve physical, hand-over-hand help. As they learn, parents will start to "fade" the prompts. First, they'll stop using hand-over-hand help, and instead provide only verbal prompts ("don't forget to rinse the toothbrush!"). Then they'll start to fade even the verbal prompts. When no prompts are required, the child has learned the task!

Adapted from: https://www.verywellfamily.com/teach-self-care-skills-to-children-with-special-needs-4128821

*PRACTICAL LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION FOR SPECIAL NEEDS*

We're back for a new term! But this time, we're moving to WRTS Melawati Mall. Same classes, different venue, but still the same awesome skills skills in a fun interactive style! Term starts on the 12th of September so quick!

Term commencement: 12th September 2018
Time/ Day: Every Wednesdays (6pm - Group 2) or Thursday (10.30am - Group 1)
Venue: WRTS, Melawati Mall

Our classes will be divided into 2 age groups, 3-5 years (Group 1) and 6-10 years (Group 2). Your kids will learn things like Safety Skills, Personal Skills, Simple Meals and other basic skills so they can take care of themselves when mummy and daddy aren’t around.

For more information, just leave us a PM or send us an email at [email protected] Grab your spots now before our classes are filled up!

****
ABOUT GROWING BEANS

Growing Beans Class is a Living Skills Class for Special Needs designed to target and build practical and functional skills required to live independently and alongside others in the community and at school.

We aim to develop, support, and empower every child and adult with their individual talent and skills necessary for them to live independently, work in society, and enjoy life in the community.

We believe all children are unique individuals with a diverse but individualised needs. Hence, we strongly advocate for in creating the right environment, building on each child's strengths and weaknesses, respecting and appreciating their special qualities, and offering the right support and care to create successful blooming moments!

"I am a mum to a boy with special needs and I am okay with that. That is, until I see older kids with special needs and the growing up scares me.

A parent once told us this - "I am proud of my boy. In fact, I am honoured to have him as my son. That is, until I see older kids with special needs growing up and it scares me. Will they be alright when they grow up? When I'm not around - will they be okay? Sometimes what I see grips my heart and I feel myself say, I don’t want that to be us."

Will my kids be accepted by society when they grow up? Where will they live? Where will they work? Will they feel as if they have a meaningful life? And those are only some of the many questions.

So take it one day at a time, one step at a time. We don't know who are children will grow up to become or who they will choose to become as they grow up. We don’t know what challenges will come their way, but we do know is that we cannot choose live in fear of the future.

Prepare and plan. Live fearlessly and independently, work courageously in the society, and enjoy wholeheartedly life in the community.

What is a “realistic” amount of normal household duties to expect from our children with special needs?

If we expect too much, we face the risk of rejecting them for who they truly are - Special. If we expect too little, we fail to encourage them to do the most of what they can do for themselves independently and this may send the message that he or she is not capable of helping.

Amidst the tornado of chaos, we find the necessity to remember one thing and one thing only! In almost all situations with raising a child with special needs - regular child-raising issues will apply. They may not go through stages at the same age, at the same rate as children without special needs, but they are children and kids will always be kids. All children are the same, but all children are also different - they have different personalities and react differently to similar situations. All children go through the same childhood stages but they are just are not the same. All children are different but they should have the same opportunities.

One opportunity should be the chance to assume a greater degree of responsibilities and independence. Consider what these activities might be to teach them how to pull their own weight around the house as well. There may be many ways in which your child can help themselves or other members of the family, such as helping with chores around the house.

Of course, the severity and type of special needs affect how much your child is able to participate in their household duties. Nevertheless, to not encourage or expect them to contribute to the household duties may send the message that he or she is not capable of helping. Dependence is fostered instead.

The same rules apply as with raising a child without special needs - one size doesn't fit all. The best we can do is to realise that this is an ongoing question that we need to consider. But in doing so - As you expect and encourage your child to assume responsibility, his or her sense of pride and competence will also increase.

Why are Life Skills taught differently to children with special needs?

Everyone needs certain skills to simply get through the day. Most people learn skills of daily living at a young age through a combination of instruction, imitation, and trial and error. So why then do we need to teach life skills differently to children with special needs?

That's because children with special needs learn differently and dare we say, sometimes special and uniquely human. Children with special needs:

1. May not develop imitation skills until much later than average—or not at all.

2. May not develop the ability to understand and express themselves with spoken language until much later than average—or not at all.

3. May not develop the desire to "be just like" or impress someone else with their skills and abilities.

4. May find it difficult to follow spoken instruction—particularly when the instruction includes multiples steps.

5. May be unaware of what is "expected" or "normal" behavior.

6. May lack the ability to focus on a task for extended periods of time.

7. May be easily frustrated.

8. May have sensory or cognitive challenges that stand in the way of success.

If your child has some or all of these challenges, they may not just "get" daily living skills as their typically developing peers do. But that doesn't mean they can't learn most or even all of those skills with the right teaching approach!

Adapted from: https://www.verywellfamily.com/teach-self-care-skills-to-children-with-special-needs-4128821

"Things grocery shopping has taught us:
Narrow aisles and Unlabelled price tags can drive a child with special needs into a world-wind of chaos and confusion."

When you are working with a child with special needs, you realise just how many things we take for granted. Yes, there is the big stuff like walking, talking, and staying on task in a grocery store but there are also the smaller day-to-day things like narrow aisles, unlabelled price tags, and grocery aisle signages that occasionally serve up a big challenge.

Looking back at our pictures from our shopping trips, we smile thinking about how lucky we were that the conditions were just right for our shopping trips! We've never realised this but Jaya Grocer has got Big wide aisles for them to tap their tapping feet around without bumping into anyone; Big huge numbers plastered on their price tags right beneath the items we wanted to buy, and even Bigger grocery aisle signages in bold letters and bright colours so their big brains could process them easier.

Part of learning to be an Inclusive society is to realise that we have the power to engineer the environment - an awareness that items, systems, and procedures have great effects on a person - and that little engineerings can calm a world-wind of chaos and confusion.

"As far as possible, teach the special needs child to be independent, be it learning living skills or getting job training. But many special needs children are dependent on others because of their impairments."

"Most of these children would be dependent on others for life, and parents must start preparing for a time when they’d no longer be able to care for their special needs children."

Read more at: https://www.star2.com/family/2018/04/20/special-needs-future-planning/ .99

6 Things To Prepare For Your Special Needs Child's Future | Star2.com Those with special needs will require lifelong care, and parents have to assess the resources available and safeguard their future as well as they can.

80% of parents of children with special needs say that they are extremely or very concerned with their child's future well-being and ability to live independently.

Infographics full of facts here: https://www.facebook.com/growingbeansclass/photos/a.1986492588282976.1073741828.1986485238283711/2090420477890186/?type=3

Did you know?Only 6% of parents of children
with special needs have prepared a comprehensive plan
to prepare their child for independent living.

Infographics full of facts here: https://www.facebook.com/growingbeansclass/photos/a.1986492588282976.1073741828.1986485238283711/2090420477890186/?type=3

Screenshot this flyer as an invite to your friends!