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Areas that a person should acquire to live a happy and independent life in today’s world.
Life and vocational skills are areas that a person should acquire to live a happy and independent life in today’s world. Life skills and vocational skills are learned from early toddler stages (like potty training) through adulthood (like completing a resume). These skills often will combine multiple developmental milestone domains. More times than not, life and vocational skills require multiple steps to complete one task. For example, making a sandwich requires a person to:
- Open the bread package
- Pull out 2 pieces of bread
- Use a utensil to spread condiments on the bread
- Place meat, cheese, etc. onto bread
- Put together two pieces of bread with meat/cheese
- Clean up the area
This break-down of a simple task like making a sandwich is called task analysis. Many life and vocational skills can be taught with more accuracy if we use a task analysis.
The chart below identifies several areas your child should demonstrate by vocational and life skills across their life span:
| Life and Vocational Skills | |
| Toddlers to School Aged
Age Range: 2 to 5 years
| Independently toilets with minimal accidents |
| Completes sorting and matching | |
| Sleeps in their own bed | |
| Drinks from an open cup, eats with utensils | |
| Pours drinks | |
| Cleans up after themselves and washes their hands | |
| Identifies community helpers (fire, police person, teacher, mail person etc) |
| Life and Vocational Skills | |
| School Aged
Age Range: 5 to 8 years
| Can attend for longer time |
| Set up a dinner table | |
| Begins to help with household chores (sweeping, putting dishes away) | |
| Begins to utilize a computer or similar device | |
| Can determine what clothing to wear based on the weather | |
| Identifies their home address and important phone numbers |
| Life and Vocational Skills | |
| Adolescence
Age Range: 8 to 17 years
| Can attend for longer time |
| Independently cleans up after themselves (i.e. bedroom) | |
| Throws trash away, sweeps, vacuums, mops etc. | |
| Can cook and prepare different meals (i.e. sandwich, boils water etc.) | |
| Maintains personal hygiene (bathe, use deodorant etc.) | |
| Counts money and can purchase items at the store |
| Life and Vocational Skills | |
| Adulthood
Age Range: 17 years and above
| Self-manages time and scheduling |
| Utilizes transportation, drives an automobile etc. | |
| Cooperates with employers and colleagues | |
| Can utilize multiple community resources |