Enhancing Independent Living Skills at Home

A consumer’s mother contacted RCIL for assistance to help her daughter be more independent. The mother was concerned that her daughter won’t be able to take care of herself if something happens to her. The Independent Living Specialist (ILS) met with the consumer and they developed a goal for her independent living skills at home. The consumer chose learning how to do laundry as her first goal.

They worked on learning how to put away laundry. The consumer told her ILS that she is a visual learner. They discussed different ideas on what might help the consumer learn to do laundry. The consumer expressed that she loves to do charts, graphs, and spreadsheets. They made a chart with the steps of getting the laundry out of the dryer to putting them in drawers or hanging them up. A few weeks later, the consumer was proud to show her ILS the progress on her goal. She said she is keeping up with folding and putting away her laundry much better. The consumer said that she achieved her goal and is ready to move on to learning how to tell time and putting away her toys.