MTSD103
A Functional Curriculum
Students with disabilities will not acquire daily living skills without direct instruction in these areas. This means that they need to have access to a curriculum that specifically addresses these aspects so they can gain the skills necessary to achieve outcomes related to independent living that will assist in full participation in the community. This module will help course participants prepare a functional curriculum that is designed to teach independent living skills. A functional curriculum is one that helps learners learn the world around them, one that helps learners learn how to interact in this world, one that teaches our learners in a systematic way what other learners might gain through incidental learning and one that teaches functional skills.
By the end of this programme, participants should be able to:
a. Develop own understanding of concepts related to functional curriculum and assessment.
b. Create functional curriculum progammes that promote independent living skills that can be applied across subjects.
c. Carry out tasks to promote independent living skills through a functional curricular approach.
d. Produce learning outcomes related to independent living skills.
e. Create appropriate assessment tools that meet all learners’ needs and abilities to assess functional curriculum programs.
a. Critically and systematically define functional curriculum and different methods of authentic assessment such as oral questioning, observations, and video/photographic evidence.
b. Describe different activities to foster independent living skills through a functional curricular approach.
c. Define learning outcomes related to independent living skills.
d. Outline lesson plans that foster a functional curricular approach.
e. Identify various approaches such as oral questioning, observations and video/photographic evidence that can be used to assess different learning outcomes.
a. Critically reflect on the importance of a functional curricular approach when teaching learners with different disabilities.
b. Design and implement lesson plans using a functional curricular approach to teach independent living skills.
c. Prepare programs on independent living skills using a functional curricular approach.
d. Evaluate different methods of assessment for assessing teaching and learning using a functional curricular approach.
e. Design and implement assessment tools to assess different learning outcomes relating to a functional curriculum.
This programme adopts continuous and summative methods of assessment including assignments, online tasks, reflective journals, projects and video presentations. For further details, kindly refer to the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Policy and Procedures.
1. Bal, V. H., Kim, S.-H., Cheong, D., & Lord, C. (2015). Daily living skills in individuals with autism spectrum disorder from 2 to 21 years of age. Autism, 19(7), 774–784.
2. Hustyi, K. M., Hall, S. S., Quintin, E., Chromik, L. C., Lightbody, A. A., & Reiss, A. L. (2015). The Relationship Between Autistic Symptomatology and Independent Living Skills in Adolescents and Young Adults with Fragile X Syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(6), 1836-1844.
3. Frey, B. (2018). The SAGE encyclopedia of educational research, measurement, and evaluation (Vols. 1-4). Thousand Oaks,, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
4. Kang, Y., & Chang, Y. (2020). Using an augmented reality game to teach three junior high school students with intellectual disabilities to improve ATM use. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 33(3), 409-419.
5. Wynkoop, K. S., Robertson, R. E., & Schwartz, R. (2018). The Effects of Two Video Modeling Interventions on the Independent Living Skills of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability. Journal of Special Education Technology, 33(3), 145–158.
6. Lawson, H., Byers, R., Rayner, M., Aird, R., & Pease, L. (2015). Curriculum models, issues and tensions. In P. Lacey, R. Ashdown, P. Jones, H. Lawson, & M. Pipe (Eds.). The Routledge companion to severe, profound and multiple Learning Difficulties (233-245). Routledge.
1. Bouck, E. C., & Joshi, G. (2012). Functional curriculum and students with mild intellectual disability: Exploring postschool outcomes through the NLTS2. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 47(2), 139-153.
2. Bouck, E. C., & Satsangi, R. (2014). Evidence-base of a functional curriculum for secondary students with mild intellectual disability: A historical perspective. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 49(3), 478-486.
3. Bouck, E. C., & Flanagan, S. M. (2010). Functional curriculum = evidence-based education?: Considering secondary students with mild intellectual disabilities. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 45(4), 487-499.
4. Kellems, R. O., Rickard, T. H., Okray, D. A., Sauer-Sagiv, L., & Washburn, B. (2018). iPad® Video Prompting to Teach Young Adults With Disabilities Independent Living Skills: A Maintenance Study. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 41(3), 175–184.
5. lifeskillchallenge.org.uk/challenges
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