Fostering Independence in Children with Special Needs Through Functional Skills

Some children with special needs find it difficult to learn from their environment. They also lack sufficient opportunities due to their diverse conditions. Adi D Adinugroho, a special education specialist, explained that there are approximately 2 million school-aged children with special needs in Indonesia. They are currently children, but in 10 years, they will be adults. Some children with special needs have poor social skills and limited impulse control, for example, being overly honest and straightforward (naive). This naivety can be dangerous. Adi stated, “Developing a sense of suspicion to avoid being easily deceived is one form of a manipulative skill.” “If this manipulative skill is taught from an early age, it will be productive in adulthood,” Adi added. Children with special needs should receive early instruction in social and life skills, tailored to their specific challenges or conditions. Parents sometimes lack the time to teach functional skills. There are also parents who do not allow their children to leave the house due to shame or the belief that society will reject children with special needs. However, in reality, not all of society is rejecting them. To teach functional skills, parents can use recreation. For example: taking children to eat at a restaurant. However, before going, explain to the child that they will be eating at a restaurant, introduce them to various restaurants and guide them to choose the restaurant to visit, help the child recognize their food preferences or types of food they can eat, teach them the system that applies in a restaurant such as how to order food, and pay. Besides recreation, parents can take children to the cinema. Teach them how to choose a cinema, select a film, buy tickets, behave politely while watching, and so on. If children with special needs cannot absorb everything at once, do it gradually and with a well-thought-out plan. For example, today teach them to choose a menu, tomorrow, teach them to order food, until the steps are completed. Once the child has the ability to eat or watch, give them the opportunity to do it themselves without assistance. Another way to teach functional skills is through hobbies that children with special needs have. For example, to discover if a child has a musical hobby, try taking them to a music store, and at home, play music or musical instruments to see if they are interested. If a child enjoys playing the piano and their talent is honed, they might play the piano during school holidays in cafes. If a child enjoys origami and has a talent for it, they will appear happy pursuing this hobby; let the child continue, and facilitate their development of the hobby. Later, the child will be able to earn income from their origami creations. Why not? This opportunity is already open, especially recently, as more high-end stores and boutiques are using origami as a decorative element. From this, the child will be able to sustain themselves later by having their own income. Functional skills for children with special needs can also be taught by involving them in social clubs that include both children with special needs and neurotypical children. Evelyn Dita Christin, also a special education specialist, stated that social clubs are important. Children with special needs also need others, such as teachers and friends. So that they can learn from the smallest to the largest environments. Source: Learning Abilities. Dessy Susilawati. Leisure, Parenting page 6. Republika Supplement, Tuesday, August 25, 2014.