Independent Thought

A child must learn to resolve conflicts, and experience the impact of their own decisions. Learning to think independently, and trust their own ideas, allows a child to build confidence and inner strength.

An Individualized Curriculum

Each child is unique as to goals and dreams, learning styles, likes and dislikes, and life experiences. Based on a child’s specific needs, a curriculum can be developed that includes one or more of the following: videos, audios, symbols, kinesthetic activities, written materials, and other functional activities. Where one child may learn best with a hands-on approach of doing a task, others may excel with videos or audio books.

A child should write an action plan that encompasses the steps in good decision making, describe their skills, interests, and weaknesses, understand why their intention is so important, identify their main goals and dreams, create both short and long term goals, describe what it means to be responsible at school, home and in the community, outline ways to maximize study time, and create a daily schedule by setting priorities.

As a child learns to set priorities, it is also vital to set aside time for recreation and play, and have an adequate mix of work and play. A child should understand the effects of both negative and positive peer pressure, while learning the steps to conflict resolution through both verbal and non-verbal communication. Independent thought allows a child to think for him or herself, and value the choices that are made.

Knowing that there are natural supports available when needed adds to a person’s confidence and well being. Friends, family, neighbors, community members, teachers, coaches, and employers all contribute to a person’s ability to live independently. When a person knows where to turn for help in time of need, and is encouraged to do so, he or she is more confident in stepping out independently, and willing to make and learn from mistakes.

Also the knowledge of how to select a doctor and dentist, and the advisability of health insurance contributes to the person’s health and safety. Learning to think for themselves, and understanding the negative impact of alcohol, tobacco and drugs is quite important. Also an independent living program teaches the importance of a healthy diet, and how to prepare healthy meals.

Money and Jobs

The sooner a child learns basic financial skills the better. These include understanding a credit report, opening and using a saving and checking account, importance of paying bills on time, setting up a budget, how to shop effectively, and forming a habit of consistent savings.

Career planning entails learning how to write a resume, cover letter, and complete an application, determining one’s skills, interests, and attributes, ways to locate job openings, preparing for a job interview, and setting up a career plan.

Other important areas to learn are locating housing, how to buy a car, traffic laws, taxes, and community resources. Teaching methods vary from lecture and role playing to experiential or inquiry learning.

All these various parts of teaching a child how to live independently are all based on instilling the importance of independent thought. No matter how well meaning we may be, doing things for our children in order to protect them, or to try to “guarantee” their success, only weakens them in the long run.

The earlier a child can learn that it is okay to make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes, the more empowered he or she will be throughout his or her life. Independent thought is then highly valued by a child. It is then possible to live a self actualized life based on who they are, and what they are meant to do.

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