How to Use Life Skills Worksheets for Functional Reading

Life Skills Worksheets and Functional Reading are both alike in that they focus on important skills for independence and self-help for students in Special Education. How can you use Life Skills Worksheets here for Functional Reading practice?

Life Skills Worksheets – What’s Included?

There are 8 different topics covered in the Life Skills Workbook bundle.

• Filling Out Forms
• Filling Out Applications
• Reading Bills
• Reading Recipes
• Reading Invitations
• Reading Schedules
• Budgeting 
• Life Skill Sorting

These sheets can be used for hands on practice of important life skills, and each workbook is crafted to provide students with the exposure and experience needed to handle daily tasks independently. These resources are perfect for developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and functional skills in a structured learning environment.

Although they are ready to print and use (time saver – yes!), we can also add some helpful and fun things to make these Life Skills Worksheets even more hard hitting and effective.

Pair with Hands On Manipulatives

I love adding those REAL pieces to a worksheet that not only make it fun and colorful, but they add hands on practice of skills for students that benefit from real practice. This will also assist students when they generalize these skills to other places like home or the community. Some possible pairings may be:

• Use “real” (pretend) money to give students a budget when using the Budgeting workbook pages. Students can practice seeing the amount of money in the budget and just how much goes where.
• Use images of jobs and occupations when students work on Filling Out Applications workbook pages. They can visualize where they are applying and what type of information these applications require. Hold mock “interviews” or application sessions to practice the real-life process of filling out an application.
• Use clocks (digital and analog) to view times and visualize improving time management skills. I like to use analog clocks with visual markers to help students visualize time and practice how to manage their schedule.
• Use store advertisements with food, home goods, or clothing to practice Life Skills Sort workbook pages. Students can visualize or extend their practice on where items go within the house, kitchen, closet, or elsewhere. Organization in personal and professional settings is a very important skill!

Set Up for Longevity

A lot of students have greater success with repeated practice of a skill. If you laminate, add Velcro, or even just place these sheets into protective/plastic dry erase pockets, you can utilize these Life Skills Workbook sheets again and again. I love laminating things to use with multiple students. I have even been able to use some things for multiple years!

Tools at Your Disposal

Use tools like word banks and highlighted materials to assist students in functional reading practice when using these workbooks! Highlight key words for students to easier identify when practicing. Provide a word bank of functional words to find when using the workbook.

Repeated Exposure

Because of the variety of sheets in each Life Skills Workbook bundle, repeated practice is easy (and you can even print and go!)

As I mentioned earlier, practicing many times is beneficial for students in Special Education. Some students need much more exposure than their peers. Adding workbook sheets and functional reading to your daily schedule, even as a quick warm up, can help strengthen those skills and using a familiar task for students can reduce anxiety (and reduce behaviors due to new work anxiety.) Varied repetition is important for long term-retention.

Environmental Print

Another way to expose students to functional reading is by having these words be a part of their environment. Labeling areas, tools, schedules, numbers, foods, prices, and more, help to expose students to those essential words. Create an entire bulletin board with labeled areas that students can use as part of a station. Students can take their Life Skills Workbook to the station and find helpful information in the environment to aid in completing their work.

Keep Data Using the Workbook

An easy way to gauge a student’s growth is to keep copies of completed workbook pages. By comparing the same type of workbook sheet over time, you can see your student’s growth and change, as well as where they may need extra supports.

Use the paper copies and bring them to a student’s annual meeting as data collected. Use digital data tracking sheets to transfer information about student’s functional reading skills.

Whatever you’re working on with your students this year, I hope you can utilize the Life Skills Workbook to strengthen many skills along with functional reading. If you’re still interested in how to use these sheets, check out Allison’s blog to hear from the OT perspective.