It’s hard to manage autism when you know your child needs more help learning key skills they will need to use throughout their lifetime. Sometimes, even older teens struggle to learn what seems like easy skills. There is help available to improve functional skills in many older children with autism. At Camp Worth, we offer a functional skills training program that can change the future of your child’s wellbeing.
What Are Functional Skills?
Functional skills are those that are necessary for completing tasks important for daily living. These are skills most people need to have to have a good quality of life. If a person cannot do these things on their own, someone else needs to do them. Many children with autism have the ability to learn these skills, but it takes a lot of work and consistency to make it possible. Some children may not develop all of them.
Some examples of functional skills include:
- Communication skills, including understanding language, signs, pictures, and saying things like “no” to express their needs and expectations
- Self-care skills, including bathing, toileting, and other hygiene needs
- Safety skills are a big component of functional skills and often include how to minimize dangerous situations, how to be safe in a car, on a walk, or with other threats
- Choice-making decisions are also important and include being able to express their preferred activity or need
- Vocational skills are skills necessary to maintain a job and may include following directions and communicating
Functional skills can also sometimes include recreational skills. These skills are those a person needs to be able to relax and have fun. It’s a good idea for children to have a strong foundation of what is right and wrong in these areas, too.
What Does a Functional Skills Training Program Do Differently?
Many of these skills are taught at a younger age. People with autism learn at a slower pace or may need special direction and interaction. As one of the autism therapy programs we offer at Discover Camp Worth, functional skills training is at the heart of every person’s needs. Our goal is to pinpoint what they need to learn. Then, we work to find the right way to communicate with them the information they need to learn and maintain those skills.
Like with social skills, it is not easy to teach someone with autism, even high-functioning autism, how to manage each of these areas. Yet, it is critical to their quality of life. Our goal is to find the right words, methods, and strategies to reach them.
Overcoming Autism Limitations Means Focused and Innovative Therapy
At Discover Camp Worth, we often work with kids between the ages of 11 and 17 who need more help than they can get at home or through local programs. We often work closely with parents who are frustrated and who have tried everything without improvement. We can help your child with many of the needs they have, including:
- Communication skill development
- Learning about and maintaining responsibilities
- Improving life skills
- Improving functional skills like those listed here
- Providing strategies for managing poor behavior
If you are working with a child who needs more help, let us offer insight and support. Your child may have exhausted all other resources, but our team is ready to offer support and guidance in a new manner.
Invest in Your Child’s Future at Discover Camp Worth
An investment in your child’s future matters. That’s especially true of functional skills. When you are ready to provide more help but need support to make it happen, turn to Discover Camp Worth. Our dedicated team of professionals is available to you today. Call us at 855.915.2545 or connect online to learn more.
