By Taylor Rich, OHS Torch Reporter
“We work to improve their quality of life by giving them an opportunity of independence,” said OHS Special Ed teacher, Ms. Anna Shaw, about the independent living skills class in their new classroom which opened this year at OHS.
Students in Ms. Shaw’s class cook, clean, and work on job skills, money skills, reading, and writing. “We go out once a week into the community. It is important we go out and practice social skills. It gives us an opportunity to help with disability awareness,” said Shaw.
Ms. Shaw says they still work on the general curriculum, such as geography, science, and civics, but they mostly work in life skill.
Students in Shaw’s class make a daily schedule to show their parents what they did throughout the day. A lot of parents ask what students did in the day, and normally their answer is “stuff” or “I don’t know”. A daily schedule gives the students an opportunity to share their daily activities.
Ms. Shaw’s students have developmental challenges, making things more challenging to achieve.
Hannah Baker, OHS freshman, gets to enjoy Shaw’s class. They get to play games based on life skills that would be helpful in the future. Hannah also has joined Mrs. Hapgood's Freshmen advisory class for social skills development opportunities.
All of the students are very welcoming and love to be a part of the crowd, and will be. They all have a struggle of their own; however, they are able to overcome the obstacles and have fun in the process.
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