Literacy and Low Incidence Disabilities

We were talking about transitioning students to university and adulthood, in class today.

What are the best strategies to effectively help them communicate their qualifications?

How do literacy skills impact the effectiveness of our communication?

Students who have low incidence disabilities feel alone and helpless. 

 How can we help those students transition? They often have trouble with transference of the skills. How do we teach resume writing to these students? 

      We were challenged to imagine a trip to the grocery store with a student with low incidence disabilities. What challenges are presented.  Firstly, a grocery list requires literacy skills, short term memory skills, long term memory skills and comprehension. Being able to understand the specials being offered over the intercom, and on the price tags, requires comprehension. Being able to communicate with the cashier requires conversation skills.  These basic daily tasks can be intimidating for many of our students.  We need to practice these skills in the most authentic way possible.
      Apps like Video Scribe can be a good App to help give an opportunity to both practice literacy skills, and incorporate images and videos to help make connections to the given lesson.
       The vastness of the brain processes involved in resume and portfolio creation is intense.  It is important to realize how difficult it is for these students.  We also have to impress upon these students why we write resumes.  Students must buy into the whole idea.
         By using a voice recording, and adding it to pictures of the students, it helps a young student to practice explaining what her skills and abilities are.
          I found filling out the neurological Framework to be an excellent assignment because it would be a good way to understand the student. It is good for understanding the vocabulary terms more clearly (terms such as, "higher-order cognition", "Social-cognition", "Verbal Pragmatics", and "Non-verbal pragmatics".  You have to understand the definitions in order to truly fill in the framework accurately. It also shows how important it is to actually work with the individual. 

"Trying to give meaningful responses without having met the student is like doing a puzzle without looking at the picture."--- Mark Hill

         Tomorrow we will take what we learned today and we will integrate the technology that is needed to offer solutions for these students.  I think that thinking of resume writing and life skills, is the most important thing we can do.  We get caught up with the assessment of academic skills and behaviour profiles, but we don't think put enough emphasis on essential life skills that will be used after students leave our care.  

Please share your ways of incorporating  life skill training in your practices.