Grocery Shopping
When Michael first started school, we were lucky enough to work with a group of professionals who shared some guiding principles about teaching skills by breaking them down into their component parts. It’s so helpful to think about all the building blocks that go into a daily chore like going grocery shopping.
An independent trip to the grocery store requires so many skills, but it is not so overwhelming to teach if you just choose to work on one or two of the smaller skills.
Grocery Store Skills
- Safely walking in a parking lot or on a sidewalk
- Pushing the shopping cart
- Labeling the foods/items you see
- Choosing foods to buy or sticking to a budget
- Making a list, crossing off items once found
- Putting the food into the cart (gently)
- Putting the items onto the checkout belt (also gently)
- Making small talk with the cashier or other shoppers
- Checking out (paying with cash or a debit/credit card)
- Loading the car
- Helping to unload at home and put groceries away
- Where foods go (cabinet, refridgerator, freezer)
I promise, working on one or two of these skills each trip to the grocery store will pay dividends over time. Also, there is absolutely nothing wrong with either shopping on your own (cue the deep, cleansing breath) or just having your child with you and not working on a thing.
In fact, the professionals who work with our kids sometimes refer to this as taking a baseline. How fancy are we? Make observations about your child’s current skill set. Even with no planning or forethought, you can gather lots of valuable information about your child during this mundane errand. Just pay attention to your child in the store and decide on a goal or two that might make the most sense for them. Do they wander or run away from you? Do they grab things off the shelf? These safety issues might take precedence over anything else for you.
The Moral of the Story
Life is enrichment! Doing the things you need to do each day with your child in a thoughtful way exposes them to these important life skills without overwhelming you.
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About the Author
Erica Mauro is a mom to two teenage boys, Will who is neurotypical and Michael with Autism and cognitive delays. She holds a BA in Psychology from Colgate University and a Masters of Psychology in Education from Columbia Teacher’s College. Before staying home with her children, she worked as an elementary school teacher. For five years, she served on the Board of Directors of the Molly Ann Tango Memorial Foundation, a charity dedicated to enriching the lives of children with special needs. In partnership with her husband Dave, she aspires to parent by using daily life as an opportunity for therapeutic intervention, seizing on real experiences as opportunities to build skills and strategies for Michael in a joyful, loving home environment. On the tougher early days, she just tried to get everyone safely to bedtime and start fresh in the morning. *wink* 
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