Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Curriculum
Over the years I have been occasionally asked if the SNAP Curriculum comes with lesson plans and activities. No, it doesn't. It isn't an academic curriculum. Someone recently described it as a conversational curriculum and I think that's a good description. It's a tool to help staff engage your adult clients in a discussion of over 200 daily living skills topics.
It also does not come with any data collection tools. Success will be determined within your Individual Service Plan Criteria.
As your staff and clients are engaged in whatever daily activities you already do, this material gives staff a way to engage your clients. For example... if you are out shopping, would your staff actually take the time to talk about what kinds of stores carry whatever you're looking for? How about having an idea ahead of time about what an item may cost? How would you figure that out? Or sales tax. How about discussing comparison shopping? Or even completing a purchase and how to read a receipt.
These are all topics within the curriculum. Each topic is short and gives your staff an idea of how to talk about these issues with an adult with a developmental disability.
There are a myriad of topics that also apply to shopping. How will you get there? What are the store hours and how would you find out before going shopping? How will you handle a large crowd... especially during the busy holiday shopping time? What if you got separated from your group while out shopping? How would you handle that? What if you discover that you don't have enough money with you to purchase an item? Can you deal with those emotions?
It's easy for staff to just lead clients on a shopping excursion without talking about these daily living skills topics, but what better time than when you are engaged in the activity?
And speaking of busy holiday shopping - Happy Holidays!
It also does not come with any data collection tools. Success will be determined within your Individual Service Plan Criteria.
As your staff and clients are engaged in whatever daily activities you already do, this material gives staff a way to engage your clients. For example... if you are out shopping, would your staff actually take the time to talk about what kinds of stores carry whatever you're looking for? How about having an idea ahead of time about what an item may cost? How would you figure that out? Or sales tax. How about discussing comparison shopping? Or even completing a purchase and how to read a receipt.
These are all topics within the curriculum. Each topic is short and gives your staff an idea of how to talk about these issues with an adult with a developmental disability.
There are a myriad of topics that also apply to shopping. How will you get there? What are the store hours and how would you find out before going shopping? How will you handle a large crowd... especially during the busy holiday shopping time? What if you got separated from your group while out shopping? How would you handle that? What if you discover that you don't have enough money with you to purchase an item? Can you deal with those emotions?
It's easy for staff to just lead clients on a shopping excursion without talking about these daily living skills topics, but what better time than when you are engaged in the activity?
And speaking of busy holiday shopping - Happy Holidays!
Thursday, November 01, 2018
Books
Since we are approaching the holidays, I thought I'd take the opportunity to mention that my wife and I have a number of books other than my disability resource books out there.
We write fiction and non-fiction. Prior to supporting adults with developmental disabilities, I was a fire fighter for 12 years, so I wrote about my experiences both with the U.S. Forest Service (including working on a Hotshot crew) and with a city fire department. It's called "Fire Man". The book has full color pictures taken by me on several fires.
Following that, my wife and I toured a two-person melodrama and olio show around the states for six years. We wrote about those experiences, too, in our book, "Our Six Year Farewell Tour".
We also have fiction - "Appleby and Bee Bell's Curious Garden Adventure" follows a fairy and an elf across the Garden to find out what's happening to the disappearing topsoil in the Garden. It sounds like a children's book but we wrote it figuring that adults would enjoy the humor.
"The Dead Guy Talked" is a noir - 1940's style murder mystery with a hardboiled detective... only I set it in the stone age. Yeah, it's a humorous book, too.
"Wagons Whoa" takes a humorous look at what it would have been like for the very first pioneer family heading west from the original thirteen states, only to discover all of today's environmental concerns, permits, rules, regulations and fees that we have today.
"All the World's a Stage - Let's Rob It!" is the real life story of Black Bart, the famed stagecoach robber.
"Ropin' the Wind" is a humorous western featuring Bronco Bob, Cowboy Magician, and Loretta, his cowgal pal. Bob isn't a real magician, he just knows some tricks so he doesn't have to carry a gun to get the bad guy. Again, we figure adults will enjoy the humor. Here's a video book preview.
"A Dog's Diary" and "A Cat's Diary" are the daily diaries of a dog and cat, chronicling their daily activities and what they think of the world.
Our webstore is at www.mosscanyon.com. I believe we have about eighteen books on there now.... besides my disability books.
Books make great stocking stuffers!
Thank you for your support!
We write fiction and non-fiction. Prior to supporting adults with developmental disabilities, I was a fire fighter for 12 years, so I wrote about my experiences both with the U.S. Forest Service (including working on a Hotshot crew) and with a city fire department. It's called "Fire Man". The book has full color pictures taken by me on several fires.
Following that, my wife and I toured a two-person melodrama and olio show around the states for six years. We wrote about those experiences, too, in our book, "Our Six Year Farewell Tour".
We also have fiction - "Appleby and Bee Bell's Curious Garden Adventure" follows a fairy and an elf across the Garden to find out what's happening to the disappearing topsoil in the Garden. It sounds like a children's book but we wrote it figuring that adults would enjoy the humor.
"The Dead Guy Talked" is a noir - 1940's style murder mystery with a hardboiled detective... only I set it in the stone age. Yeah, it's a humorous book, too.
"Wagons Whoa" takes a humorous look at what it would have been like for the very first pioneer family heading west from the original thirteen states, only to discover all of today's environmental concerns, permits, rules, regulations and fees that we have today.
"All the World's a Stage - Let's Rob It!" is the real life story of Black Bart, the famed stagecoach robber.
"Ropin' the Wind" is a humorous western featuring Bronco Bob, Cowboy Magician, and Loretta, his cowgal pal. Bob isn't a real magician, he just knows some tricks so he doesn't have to carry a gun to get the bad guy. Again, we figure adults will enjoy the humor. Here's a video book preview.
"A Dog's Diary" and "A Cat's Diary" are the daily diaries of a dog and cat, chronicling their daily activities and what they think of the world.
Our webstore is at www.mosscanyon.com. I believe we have about eighteen books on there now.... besides my disability books.
Books make great stocking stuffers!
Thank you for your support!
