State of Illinois
Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor

Department of Human Services
Carol L. Adams, Ph.D., Secretary

Illinois School for the Visually Impaired

Goals
Advocacy
Transition
Empowerment
Shortcourses

Short Courses for Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired

Activities of Daily Living

This area of the expanded core curriculum is often referred to as "daily living skills." Independent living consists of all the tasks and functions persons perform, in order to lead lives as independently as possible. Some independent living skills are addressed in the existing core curriculum, but they may be introduced as splinter skills, appearing in learning material, disappearing, and then re-appearing. Traditional classes in Home Economics or Family and Consumer Science are not enough to meet the unique needs of most students who are visually impaired, since they assume a basic level of knowledge, acquired incidentally through vision. The skills and knowledge that sighted students acquire by casually and incidentally observing and interacting with their environment are often difficult, if not impossible, for students who are blind and visually impaired to learn without direct, sequential instruction. GATES Independent Living Skills emphasize increased independence in personal hygiene and care, personal food preparation, household management, money management and time monitoring. Self-advocacy is stressed in all classes.

Nine Weeks GATES Shortcourse
Activities of Daily Living

For Information Contact:
Principal
Illinois School for the Visually Impaired
658 East State Street
Jacksonville, IL  62650
217-479-4447 (Voice)
217-479-4415 (TTY)
1-800-919-5617
www.isvi.net

Illinois School for the Visually Impaired

Back