Daily living skills, also called activities of daily living, are generally learned during a child’s very early years.  They include these basics:

• Eating
• Mobility/walking
• Dressing/undressing (including clothing choices)
• Personal hygiene (including showering and/or bathing and oral/dental care)
• Maintaining continence
• Toileting

These skills apply across all environments from home to school to work to their communities.  Learning these skills allows a child to build confidence in their abilities to live more independently as they mature into adulthood.

An additional list of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (iADL) for older children and adults often includes these additional activities:

• Transportation
• Meal preparation
• Shopping
• Housekeeping
• Managing personal finances
• Medication management (if needed)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Perkins School for the Blind:  This webpage has an excellent list of resources for parents about dialing living skills:  Go to:  http://www.perkinselearning.org/scout/daily-living-skills-young-children-blind-multiple-disabilities-deafblind

Wonderbaby.org (supported by Perkins) also offers additional information on teaching blind children everyday organizational and living skills.  Go to: http://www.wonderbaby.org/articles/activities-daily-living

Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired:  This website has a number of links that may be helpful in understanding daily living skills more thoroughly.  Go to: http://www.tsbvi.edu/recc/domainSelect?domain=8

Michigan Low Incidence Outreach (located in the Michigan Department of Education) has a checklist of Independent Living Skills to be mastered according to the by school age group as well as additional resources for parents of blind and visually impaired children.  Go to: https://mdelio.org/blind-visually-impaired/expanded-core-curriculum/independent-living-skills