If you or someone you know has autism, you may be familiar with the challenges that come with learning new skills or behaviors. Video modeling is a technique that can help individuals with autism learn these skills by providing a visual model of the behavior. This...
Life Skills Summer Activities for Teens with Autism
Life Skills Summer Activities
Summer vacation can be a great time to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle of the school year, but it can also bring about some added stress of going away from the typical routine. Some teens may do well without structure, but some may still need some structure throughout their day as well. As a family, we are always finding ways that we can continue to work on building life skills with everyday activities.
The summer months can be a great way to explore new activities that you may not have the time to do during the school year. These can be great activities to help engage your teen in new and fun experiences, but also help them learn new life skills as well. Just because it is the summer, does not mean they have to stop learning.
We decided to help create a list of summer learning activities that you can do with your teen this summer to help them gain independence with life skills!
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Safety Skills
- Understanding what an emergency is and how and when to call 911
- Memorize their home address, how to verbalize it and how to write/type it out
- Memorize their phone number
- Internet safety rule to help keep them safe on social media
- How to be safe crossing the street and in parking lots
- Kitchen Safety with knives
- Kitchen Safety with fires
- Kitchen Safety with the stove and microwave
- How to navigate their local community (how to read road signs, how they could get back home if they were lost)
- How to talk to strangers/neighbors if they are in trouble or need help
- Who to call if they need help
- What to do if there was a fire in the house
- What to do if a stranger is at the door of the house
- How to identify “safe people” (such as police officers, fire-fighters, or friends)
- Understanding potential hazards with household products and chemicals
- Safety around pets and animals
- Understanding basic first aid skills
- How to stay safe in the home and not wander
- Pool safety skills (teaching them how to swim)
The National Autism Association has created a free Safety Toolkit for resources on how to help prevent wandering. Check that out here!
They have also created a Big Red Safety Box that is available to families in need to help keep their child with autism safe and to help prevent wandering. Click here to see if this is something that will help keep your child safe!
Social Skills
- Using manners when talking/socializing with others
- developing relationships with others
- conversational skills
- small talk
- how to ask questions
- how to ask for help
- how to say sorry
- understanding personal space
- Check out our post of over 50+ Social Skills for teens!
Self-Care Skills
- Teaching personal hygiene skills
- washing face
- showering
- bathing
- toileting
- brushing hair
- brushing teeth
- flossing
- Understanding the importance of personal hygiene skills
- Working on dressing skills and understanding what type of clothes to wear in different weather situations
- Setting up good sleep habits and bedroom routine
- how to care for their bodies
- Check out our personal hygiene skills Ebook to help you teach these skills!
Homemaking Skills
- Laundry skills
- sorting clothes
- folding laundry
- putting clothes away in the right area
- loading the washing machine and how to turn it on
- loading the dryer and how to turn it on
- safety with laundry products and how much to use when doing laundry
- Cooking skills
- simple recipes to follow to make meals
- using a microwave
- safety when using a stove
- how to store food in the kitchen
- how to read labels
- how to read a recipe and gather the supplies
- how to make a grocery list
- Cleaning skills
- how to make the bed
- how to wipe off the counter
- how to clean up a spill
- taking out the trash
- sorting for recycling
- Taking care of pets
- feeding pets
- cleaning pets
- taking pets for a walk
- Basic home repair skills or who to call for repairs
- how to take care of their things and know where they are located
- Money Skills
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- creating a budget
- manage checking account, savings account, or write a check
- how to pay with dollar bills
- how to pay with debit/credit cards
- how to save money
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Community Skills
- how to navigate stores to make purchases
- how to create a list of items they need to purchase
- how to purchase your items at the check out lane
- navigating parking lots safely
- how to read community signs
- Ask for directions
- able to use an app or electronic device for directions
Sensory Fun Activities
- Water activities
- going to the pool
- water parks
- water balloon fight
- Amusement parks
- Making slime, check out the Ultimate Slime Guide Book for TONS of fun slime recipes!
- Finding fun fidgets
Looking for a checklist of skills to help your teen learn as they transition to adulthood?
