#053: Modified Social and Leisure Skills for Middle and High School Students

If you’ve been listening for any amount of time, you know that I am all about keeping therapy fun and functional. In this episode, I have some great examples of games for your therapy or at home with your child that you can put into practice right away. These games are all about leisure skills. We spend the majority of our lifespan participating in leisure skills so it is so important to work on these skills with our learners. 

Two of the best assessments for identifying and understanding the needs for leisure skills with your students are the Assessment of Functional Life Skills and the Functional Communication Profile Revised. Both of these have direct sections and questions that pertain directly to leisure skills as life skills and clue you into what your learner needs to work on. Observation is also key. My favorite thing to do is take a look at my students' gym classes and see their communication, leisure, and social skills at work in a less structured setting. 

When planning for therapy you really have to ask, what skills can we work on in therapy that will help them with their overall engagement, peer interaction, social skills, and most importantly their joy and happiness? Modified leisure skills are so fun to work on and really make a difference beyond therapy and into their shared time with family and for older students when they join the general community. 

What we do every single day is important. Not just in therapy but also when they go home with their family.  Today I share a few of my favorite modified games for working on leisure skills. I go into how I make them accessible for my students and where to find resources for these games. Many of these games highlight skills like turn-taking, imitation, duration of the task, direction following and so much more. 

Activities and Games for Leisure Skills:

• Modified Scrabble
• Modified Uno
• Double Up
• Grocery Store Game
• The Game Gal
• Yoga
• Lifting Weights
• Listening to Music

These are just some examples of really functional and exciting ways to take on social and leisure skills. I really urge you to take a look at your therapy and the skills you’re working on and ask yourself, why am I working on this? What purpose do the skills and activities you’re currently working on serve? What we are doing every day needs to transcend beyond the classroom and be important across their lifespan!

  #autism #speechtherapy

What’s Inside:

—What are modified leisure activities?
 — Why are leisure skills important?
 — How are your therapy practices transcending the classroom?
 — How do skills build across the lifespan?
 — Can therapy be fun and functional?
 — How can therapy activities be generalized for family time?

Mentioned In This Episode:

Social skills for students with autism - MODIFIED UNO
Social skills for students with autism - Modified Scrabble
Social skills for students with autism- The Grocery Store Game
Social skills game for mixed groups - ABA Speech
Word Generator - The Game Gal
ABA Speech: Home
ABA SPEECH Your Autism Resource