Functional skills are essential in day-to-day life. Functional skill education is an approach that teaches students with disabilities the necessary skills for everyday living and working. The goal of functional skills education is to prepare students for autonomy and independence in their communities as adults.
This is accomplished through high expectations, increased opportunities, and high levels of participation. Students are expected to develop skills in a variety of areas, including activities of daily living (ADLs), work and career, community involvement and participation, relationships, leisure and recreation, technology, money management, health, nutrition and food preparation
Functional Skills Special Education is a program that helps students who have learning disabilities or cognitive impairments to develop the skills they will need for independent living.
The functional skills special education program offers students a modified curriculum and instruction in reading, writing, math, science, social studies, health, physical education and technology. Students are provided with multiple opportunities to practice and generalize their academic skills through direct instruction and group activities. This program also provides an intervention block to address a student’s individualized needs.
Each Functional Skills Special Education (FSSE) teacher has specific duties that include providing academic instruction, developing student individualized education plans (IEPs), and documenting progress and maintaining student records. They also provide social/emotional support and guidance to students.
An FSSE teacher should be able to adapt to changing situations and work well with others, as well as be capable of handling an active work environment. They must be familiar with the principles of child growth and development, effective instructional strategies, procedures for identifying students with special needs, testing students’ abilities to determine their eligibility for special programs, and a variety of instructional resources and equipment.
Functional skills can be defined as the ability to use basic life skills and employability skills in order to function independently in society. These skills include reading, writing, and math as well as essential life skills such as using public transportation, utilizing community resources, reading a map or schedule, ordering from a menu, and managing money.
Functional Skills are most often associated with students with intellectual disabilities because they usually have the greatest need for this type of instruction. However, functional skills instruction can be used for other student populations including those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or emotional disturbance.
One of the most important parts of the school system is knowledge literacy in functional skills. Functional skills education focuses on teaching students how to perform the functions necessary to complete everyday activities, such as using public transportation or filling out a job application.
Functional skills are important because they give students with disabilities a fair shot at entering the workforce and being independent adults. These skills allow them to participate in society without feeling left out or limited in their abilities.
However, many of these students face challenges when they first enter the workforce because they have not learned how to perform some basic tasks that are expected of workers, such as making change for customers or writing emails professionally. This can be especially true if they come from low-income households where money isn’t always available for education expenses like books or computers at home.