Domain: Activities of daily living (ADL) and Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs):
What are activities of daily living (ADL) ?
They are the activities which occur on a daily basis that are required to take care of ourselves. These
activities can also be referred to as basic activities or daily living or personal activities of daily living.
What are Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs)?
These activities are things that occur in the home and community settings. They are more complex than
activities of daily livng and require skills that are more advanced in relating to other people.
Good praxis (motor skills planning which includes the idea, sequence and task completion) skills are
necessary to complete daily living activities. When learning to do fasteners for clothing it is easier to
start on flat boards than to try to close fasteners on clothing because of the visual perceptual difficulty
of looking down to fasten closures. After fastening closures are mastered on a flat surface; then you can
move along to vertical plane which are on the closures on clothing which is on the student. This
fastening board came from the Abilitations catalog.
©Sensory Scholar 2013
This money game uses fine motor skills which require picking up and placing coins. This game came
from the Apple Tree School Supply Store. Money is an important functional life skill to learn. I have had
many students and patients in the past that have been taken advantage of when shopping because they
couldn’t count change.
Money games are fun and teach the fine motor management of coins. Another fun thing you can do
with a coin is to put it in your palm and try to move it out to your finger tips without using your other
hand and just using the fingers on the hand the coin is placed in. It is a good activity to increase finger
strength and dexterity. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
This money set came from The Apple Tree which is a school store. I prefer to use real money because of
the weight and color. Plus, dimes and quarters have ridges on the edges which help to discriminate the
coins.
Here are some songs I like to teach my kids to help them remember the coins and values:
This weighted buckle pad is a nice way to work on buckling. This one was purchased from Abilitations
This weighted buckle form Abilitations helps to learn to buckle various sizes of buckles. For learning
fastening I like to use real clothing if possible. You can take it and staple the closure part to a board to
practice fastening. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
This creating make- up styles is to work on fine motor skills and to learn how to and manipulate a small
beauty tool. It also helps the student perceive how much make up is not too much. They can take the
make-up style paper home after they have made up the girl. This came from a school scholastic book
fair, but I have also seen them at bookstores. Girls love this activity. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
These fun flash drives are fun to fidget with for some kids. I have had kids attach flat flash drives to a
lanyard and use it for a fidget for school. I really like it because it is a socially acceptable fidget. These
are available at discount stores and office stores. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
This spin brush can be decorated with object or theme of interest you could even change the stickers for
the season or holiday. Novel or unusual is better because it creates interest and draws attention away
from tooth brushing. Various types of toothbrushes can be purchased at discount stores. ©Sensory
Scholar 2013
I like
this
musical
toothbrush because it helps get in the rhythm of brushing their teeth and helps them to brush for a
longer period of time. It takes the focus off of the tooth brushing process and places it on the music.
Found at local discount stores. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
This dispenser for wet wipes that only requires one hand when your other hand is busy from Lilly
Pad in Lawrence Kansas. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
This classroom pointer can be used to operate a push button at a drive in, bank, or drive thru pharmacy.
It is a great tool for people have a short reach. My mom is petite and carries her in her car and said she
loves it. I bought this one from a school supply store. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
These key covers from Fred are great. I can quickly look at my keys and determine which key I need.
They really help me with my visual discrimination problems. They can be found at The Snow Goose in
Tulsa and online. ©Sensory Scholar2013
These Walmart pen holders work great on clip boards when students use them for schoolwork. They
provide a quick way to locate and not lose their pens. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
THE MCCARTER SHOE TYING METHOD:
After years of trying different shoe tying methods I finally determined that with the kids I see I needed
to come up with a different method. They seemed to be having difficulty with traditional methods
because of their visual motor and motor coordination challenges.
Step 1: Using each hand pull the laces up vertically. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Step 2: cross the laces over. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Step 3: Put one lace under the other and pull a lace with each hand. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Step 4: Pull the laces all the way out with each hand. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Step 5: Make a bunny ear with the dominant hand and hold the bunny ear down close to the shoe.
Step 5: this is a little better picture of showing the bunny ear. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Step 6: With the non-dominant hand wrap the lace around the bunny ear and then drop the lace
towards the body. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Step6: This is just another picture of the lace wrapped around the bunny ear and then dropped.
©Sensory Scholar 2013
Step 7: With the non-dominate hand push the middle of the loose lace with your index finger
through the hole. When you do this you form another bunny ear. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Step 7: Another picture of pushing the loose lace through the hole with the non-dominant index
finger. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Step 8: After pushing the lace through hole pull one bunny each hand. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
One of my teacher friends shared these sayings with me a very long time. They might be oldies, but
they are still goodies and they still work very effectively. I prefer to use real coins because of the weight,
edges and color. I always tell my students pennies are the only brown coins with smooth edges. Some
of our best teaching ideas don’t cost anything. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Nickels are the middle sized silver coin and are smooth on the sides. One of my students wanted to put
the plastic coin by the saying because he was so proud of himself for recognizing the coin. ©Sensory
Scholar 2013
Dimes are the smallest silver coins and have a rough edge. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
Quarter is the largest silver coin with a rough edge. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
I really like this water bottle filling station at Town and Country. It is a great way for the kids to their
water bottles filled so they always have water available at their desks. This product available from
ELKAY. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
I made a shoe house for my room this year because I have so many kids working on shoe tying. The red
box came from a flea market and my husband cut the house out of bead board from Lowes. I put doll
house shingles on the house from Hobby Lobby. I made the sign from a Hobby Lobby board that say
“Please be kind and leave your shoes behind”. It is a nice place for the kids to store their shoes in before
participating in other activities. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
I have two large chairs that I bought for $15.00 a piece from a garage sale for my secondary students to
sit in when learning to tie their shoes or when removing their shoes. My mother made the pillows from
fabrics from Hancock Fabrics that match a bench the younger children use. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
I purchased this bench at a garage sale for $25.00 and purchased green paint from Lowes to paint it.
My mother recovered the bench with fabric from Hancock Fabrics. The 1940s Shoe Salesman stool
came from an antique store. I had looked for one for a long time because it is great to teach shoe tying
on. It places the shoe in a vertical slanted presentation and makes it easier for the student to learn to
tie their shoes. I love having the bench to sit on while we work on their skill. I refinished the stool with
products from Ace Hardware, then purchased rubber for the footrest from Lowes. ©Sensory scholar
2013
To go along with the shoe house theme I purchased an old plastic window frame from a garage sale and
put pictures or various shoe tying methods in the window. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
I purchased this red painted 1950s cart from a flea market. It holds my microwave, toaster oven and
visual cookbooks from Abilitations. ©Sensory Scholar 2013
I really like this table I bought from a garage sale. I painted it bright colors from Lowes. It is excellent
for working on daily living skills. The floor came from Sam’s Wholesale and the placemats and rugs
from Big Lots. ©Sensory Scholar 2013