Life skills and functional goals

How to teach budgeting to students with IEPs: needs and wants, a weekly cash or app budget, tracking spending and adjusting, with a worked budget that adds up.

How to plan community-based instruction: tie trips to IEP goals, pick sites, staff and fund outings, prepare at school, keep students safe, and fade support.

How to collect community-based instruction data on outings: pick probe students, carry a pocket task analysis, record prompts, and graph school and community.

Set up a toileting data sheet that protects privacy: what to record, who records it, coding dry checks and trips, and a worked example with real numbers.

How to teach banking skills in special education: debit cards, PIN safety, balances, ATMs, banking apps and lost cards, with a worked example and data.

How to plan life skills cooking activities: picking recipes by level, kitchen safety rules, picture recipes, roles and measuring progress with a task analysis.

How to plan body safety lessons in special education: district curriculum, family notice, private and public, consent, no-go-tell, telling, and measurement.

Twelve community services IEP goals for the library, post office and bank, with task analyses, a filled-in data sheet, probe frequency and criteria.

Twenty-four daily living skills IEP goals for dressing, eating, grooming, toileting and morning routines, each with a baseline, criterion and measure.

Twelve fire drill and lockdown IEP goals for evacuating, tolerating alarms, staying quiet in lockdown and sheltering, with a task analysis and data sheet.

24 functional IEP goal examples for routines, school independence, functional academics, communication, community and work, each with a baseline and criterion.

Twenty-four functional reading word lists for signs, labels, menus, stores, transit, jobs and forms, each annotated, plus functional reading IEP goals.

Twenty-four home safety IEP goals for fire, electrical, poison, medicine, sharp object and door safety, with a task analysis and a filled-in data sheet.

Sixteen emergency IEP goals for knowing personal information, telling an emergency apart, calling 911 in practice and talking with first responders.

Twenty diabetes IEP goals for the student's part in the health plan: nurse visits, check routines, telling adults about symptoms, carb counting and advocacy.

Twenty grocery shopping IEP goals from list writing to checkout, a 16-step grocery shopping task analysis, and a filled-in data sheet with probe frequency.

Twelve handwashing IEP goals with baselines, criteria and task analysis measurement, plus a decision table and weak vs measurable rewrites for each sub-skill.

Twelve health IEP goals for health class topics: body systems, puberty, refusal skills, sleep and exercise, when to see a nurse and first aid steps.

Twelve chores IEP goals for school and home, a chores-by-age table for families, and how to measure each chore with task analysis or opportunity data.

Twenty-four laundry IEP goals from sorting to folding, a full laundry task analysis, and a filled-in task analysis data sheet showing how to measure progress.

Sixteen nutrition IEP goals for food groups, balanced plates, label reading, healthy choices when shopping or eating out, and hydration, with criteria.

Twelve restaurant IEP goals for reading menus, ordering at a counter or table, paying, tipping and mealtime manners, with baselines, criteria and data methods.

Twenty-four seizure IEP goals for the student's part in the seizure action plan: warning signs, moving to safety, recovery routines, logs and self-advocacy.

Twenty-four hygiene IEP goals for high school: showering, deodorant, shaving, clean clothes and self-checks, with baselines, criteria and measurement methods.

Twenty-four stranger safety IEP goals built on safe helpers and tricky people: refusing lures, no-go-tell, online contacts and staying calm, with criteria.

Twelve street crossing IEP goals for stopping at the curb, signals, unsignaled crossings, parking lots and driveways, with 100 percent safety criteria.

Twenty food allergy IEP goals for naming the allergen, declining unsafe food, reading labels, telling adults, carrying the kit and speaking up when eating out.

Sixteen brushing teeth IEP goals with baselines and criteria, a decision table by student profile, and the task analysis and duration data that measure them.

Twelve vending machine and self-checkout IEP goals with task analyses, baselines and criteria, plus what to teach when a machine jams or keeps the money.

Twelve independent living IEP goals for transition-age students: meals, cleaning, schedules, mail, appointments and home problems, with baselines and criteria.

Twelve leisure skills IEP goals for choosing, sustaining and sharing free-time activities, with activity ideas by age, baselines, criteria and data methods.

Sixteen medication IEP goals for the student's part in the routine: going to the nurse, following the check steps, knowing own medicine, refills and safety.

12 menstrual care IEP goals for tracking, preparing, changing products and handling problems, with privacy rules, a decision table and family partnership.

Twenty personal information IEP goals: saying name, phone and address, showing an ID card, filling in forms and knowing when to share, with measures.

24 texting and phone safety IEP goals for sending messages, contacting trusted adults, privacy, scams and etiquette, with a filled-in task analysis data sheet.

Sixteen public transportation IEP goals for trip planning, fares, riding the bus or train, paratransit and handling problems, with baselines and criteria.

Twelve IEP goals for reporting pain, illness and injury: telling an adult, pain scales, body charts and symptoms, with a task analysis and a data sheet.

Twenty safety signs IEP goals, from reading survival words to following exit signs and hazard labels, each with a baseline, criterion and measurement method.

Twelve what-to-do-if-lost IEP goals: staying put, showing a help card, asking a safe helper, meeting spots and phone check-ins, with a filled-in data sheet.

Needs vs wants for IEP goals: a side-by-side table, one deciding question, three classroom scenarios, and goal examples from picture sorts to spending plans.

A printable independent living skills checklist for transition planning, grouped before, during and after the IEP meeting, with a reason for every item.

A fill-in daily living skills assessment for IEP teams with a completed example, a rating scale, and notes on turning ratings into life skills baselines.

Home alone safety skills for autistic children and teens: a readiness checklist, an annotated IEP example, questions to ask the team, and steps to practice.

Life skills to practice at home by age, from preschool to young adult, for children with disabilities: a table of ideas, an annotated IEP example, next steps.

What toilet training can look like in an IEP for a child with autism: an annotated example, privacy and health plan notes, questions to ask, and next steps.

What functional academics are, how they differ from life skills and grade-level academics, one student's year with real numbers, and what varies by state.