Independent Living Aids
Our Independent Living Aids are gentle reminders that a person can use every day to help them with these important life skills!
Teaching TemperatureApparel Indicating Weather Thermometer, $12.00 Standard Dial, #STD-VT
__________________________________________________________________ Northern Dial, #ND-VT
__________________________________________________________________ Southern Dial, #SD-VT
__________________________________________________________________ Our colorful Apparel Indicating Weather Thermometer shows "what to wear out there". It makes teaching temperature much easier and clearer, with its brightly colored visual cues. These Independent Living Aids are available in 3 different dial faces, because 65 degrees in Wisconsin is shorts weather, but 65 degrees in Florida is jacket weather. Get the one that fits your climate!
See details on teaching temperature concepts with our Apparel Indicating Thermometer. |
Child Placemat #020Independent Living Aids, $5.00 These Independent Living Aids show where the plate, napkins and silverware go, helping your child learn to set the table correctly. (Using these independent living aids could eventually lead to employment in a restaurant or at a caterers.)
Placemat + a little supervision = the new independent living skill of a perfectly set table!
See our Child Placemat details. |
Disposable Placemats, #030Independent Living Aids, $6.00/set of 4 kits.
Now you can eat out without worrying about what germs your child is putting their food on, thanks to these disposable independent living aids! And your child will love learning to eat properly with their friends from Sesame Street, who live on these delightful disposable placemats.
There's no question that eating out properly is an independent living skill we all need some days. These disposable placemats come in a kit that's so small (just 4 1/2 by 3 1/4 inches) it will fit in your purse, diaper bag, tote, glove compartment, just about anywhere for quick and easy access. These terrific Disposable Placemats contain four complete kits, each with a disposable placemat, fork, spoon and even a bib, all easily contained within a lidded sippy cup until you're ready to use it. See our Disposable Placemats
details. |
Lucas wanted to wear shorts and bare feet in the snow, and he just couldn't keep the silverware order straight.
Now he just looks at his Apparel Indicating Thermometer in the morning to get dressed, and one of his daily chores is to set the table, even when company comes.
Wow, two more independent living skills mastered!
Those of us who have children with special needs know how hard it is to teach them the simplest basic independent living skills sometimes.
Sometimes it's up to the parent - Let's face it, no matter how good your child's school program is, no matter how great the teachers, doctors and therapists are who work with them, there are some skills that you, as the parent, will have to help your child learn:
- Dressing appropriate to the temperature - A teacher can teach buttoning, zipping, even tying shoes, but you AND the teacher need to help your child understand that they cannot wear their sandals in the snow, or their sweatpants when it's 94 degrees out.
- Learning to set the table - A teacher can teach eating the right foods, and proper use of utensils, but the table usually isn't set in the school cafeteria, so that important skill, which could someday lead to employment, can now be taught at home.
- Eating without coming into contact with a dirty table - And a teacher usually doesn't go along on vacation or to MacDonald's, where a parent has to struggle with cleaning off the sticky table before their child starts eating (dragging their child into the bathroom to get a wet paper towel, then back out to the table, quickly clean it off before their child opens their meal, then struggle with keeping the food on that slippery paper it was wrapped in...)
At home, at school, anywhere - These Independent Living Aids can provide visual help to your child in your home, at school or elsewhere. They can be used on a daily basis to teach and reinforce some basic skills that will benefit your child for the rest of their lives.
Teaching temperature - We've heard too many stories of children with autism who wander away from home, and because they were not properly dressed for the temperature, they quickly succumb to heat or cold, suffering serious injury and even death.
Of course, teaching temperature is very difficult for these children, because they cannot understand what the numbers on a thermometer mean with regards to hot and cold, let along clothing!
The Apparel Indicating Thermometer is an independent living aid that can be used daily for teaching temperature, helping to ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for outside.
Setting the table - We know how hard it is for most people with autism to get jobs once they're finished with school. Independent living aids like our Child Placemat can teach your child an immediate skill, and give them a skill for the future.
This Child Placemat can give your child daily practice in setting the table. They're learning a skill AND freeing you up to make dinner!
Eating out safely - We're too familiar with how difficult it is to take a child with autism to a restaurant, discover a sticky, dirty table, try to clean it, while keeping an eye on your child, and then try to prevent the child from coming into contact with that table surface!
Disposable Placemats from Table Topper cover up that dirty table and provide your child with a germ-free place to eat, while helping teach them proper use of placemat, fork, spoon and cup.
Remember, each simple task, like dressing for the temperature and setting the table, is one less thing your child will need done for them during their life!
Each of these Independent Living Aids use visual cues to help your child learn some basic and necessary independent living skills.
We have other Independent Living Aids in development; stay tuned...
If you prefer, you can print a LucasWorks order form to mail with your payment.
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