Functional Life Skills Training for Children
Life skills are the jobs a household actually needs: dressing, a snack, the toilet, a bag by the door. We teach the last step first, then hand the rest back — not a lecture about being independent.
Written by the Inclusive Developmental and Therapy Center therapy team · medically reviewed by Dr Muhammad Suffyan, MB BS (GMC 8023727) · Last reviewed September 2026
About Life Skills
Functional life skills at Inclusive Developmental and Therapy Center in Model Town, Multan are the jobs a household actually needs: dressing, a snack, the toilet, washing hands, packing a bag, a safe goodbye at the door. We teach the last step first, then hand the rest back. Contact owner Muhammad Salman Afzal first; faculty includes Mahnoor Baloch. A consultation is Rs 1,500 and lasts up to 50 minutes.
Parents usually say I still dress him, she will not use the toilet at school, he cannot open his lunch. That is a task-analysis problem, not laziness. Older children and teens: life skills for school-age and teens. Printable: chores by age.
Sessions run in Urdu or English. You do not need a diagnosis. We do not run a “make them independent by Friday” programme.
Who this is for
- Children who still need an adult for dressing, shoes or a lunch box
- Toileting that has stalled, including autistic children
- Picky or very limited eating when the skill is sitting and trying, not a diet plan
- Packing a bag, washing hands, a goodbye that ends
- ADHD, when starting the task is the wall
- Teenagers who can do it if you stand there — that is the first stage, not the finish
How we teach a life skill
Break the job into the steps a camera would see. Teach the last step first (the shoe on, the lid closed, the flush) so the child finishes and gets the natural reward — dressed, fed, done. Prompt, then fade: do it for them, then hand-over-hand, then point, then wait, then leave the room. Practise in the real bathroom and kitchen, not only at a table. One skill this month, not twelve.
- Dressing and shoes, in the order the morning actually uses
- Toileting and washing hands, including asking to go
- A snack or one simple meal
- Packing the bag and putting it by the door
- A goodbye, a wait, a way to ask for help
Who delivers it
Contact the owner first. Faculty ABA hours for daily living often sit with Noor Fatima. School-readiness sitting and classroom jobs sit with Akasha Tariq. Motor pieces (buttons, zips, a spoon) sit with our motor and daily-skills work — which is not licensed occupational therapy. Related: special education, autism support, school readiness.
What to run at home for ten days
Pick the one morning job that would change next week: shoes, lunch box, flush, bag by the door. Tick it. If it needs a laminated twenty-step chart you will not use, it is the wrong job. Printables: chores by age, practice log. Coaching: parent coaching. Longer: life skills at home.
If they do it for us and not for you, that is why coaching exists — we watch the room where it fails, not the room where it already works.
Independence is a fade, not a lecture
“They can do it if I stand there” is the first stage. Independence is starting, keeping going, and finishing with you in another room. Fade on purpose: do, then point, then wait, then leave. Teenagers add packing, money, a road, a phone — that sits on school-age life skills and independence. We will not give you a fake date for “independent by Friday”.
Toileting, eating and the jobs that stall
Toileting that has stalled is usually not “they are being difficult”. It is asking, clothing, a known stall, and sometimes constipation. Autistic children often need the plan written for the school toilet as well as the home one — see dressing, eating and toileting.
Eating here is sitting, trying, and recovering from a no — not a diet. If a child coughs, gags, chokes, or is not gaining weight, that is a doctor first. Feeding as a sensory and behavioural picture: feeding difficulties.
How this programme works, in more depth
Each of these pages is one slice of the work — a session, who it is for, or what to try at home — linked back to this service.
What a session actually looks like
- 1You film or describe the real routine that fails — the morning, the toilet, the lunch box.
- 2We pick one step and decide who prompts, and how we will fade.
- 3Practise in the room that matches the job, not a pretend version if we can avoid it.
- 4You leave with one step to run for ten days and a way to tick it.
Take a worksheet home
Print one sheet. Fill it in this week. Bring it to the consultation — a consultation is Rs 1,500 and lasts up to 50 minutes.
Chores by age
One job this month. Twelve at once is how mornings collapse.
Toilet-training chart
Asking, sitting, clothing, flush — ticks you can see.
Home practice log
One skill, a few minutes, one line of what happened. Bring it next time.
Toilet-training program (PDF)
Asking, sitting, clothing, flush.
Book a consultation
Contact owner Muhammad Salman Afzal first. No referral needed. A consultation is Rs 1,500 and lasts up to 50 minutes.
The idea behind the work (in the books)
Daily living is taught as a chain of small behaviours, not as a lecture about being independent. These books are the map. We do not reproduce the Vineland or any other scored adaptive-behaviour test.
Cooper, Heron and Heward — Applied Behavior Analysis
Task analysis breaks a job into camera-visible steps. Backward chaining teaches the last step first so the child finishes and meets the natural reward. Prompt fading takes the adult out on purpose. That is the morning shoe, the lunch-box lid, the flush.
Sparrow — Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales
The Vineland is a map of what a child actually does in communication, daily living, socialisation and motor skills — not what they can do if you stand there. We use that idea: independence is performance in the real room. We do not administer or reproduce the Vineland.
WHO — International Classification of Functioning
The ICF separates a body impairment from an activity (dressing) and from participation (getting out of the house on time). We target the activity you can see this month, not a slogan about “independence”.
What the research tells us
This isn’t just our opinion — it’s grounded in published research. Here are a few findings from trusted, independent sources:
Cheng and colleagues’ 2023 meta-analysis of parent-implemented interventions for autistic children found the smallest effects on adaptive behaviour and life skills (Hedges’ g about 0.24) compared with social and communication outcomes. That is why we teach one job, in the room where it fails, and fade on purpose — life skills move slower than a request, and a weekly clinic hour without home practice barely moves them at all.
— Cheng et al., Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2023). View sourceNICE CG170 tells clinicians to assess the everyday factors that drive behaviour that challenges — communication, pain, the environment, change of routine — before treating the behaviour as defiance. A child who will not dress is often escaping a sensory or motor demand, or has never been taught the last step. We check that before we write a chore chart.
— NICE Clinical Guideline CG170 — Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s: support and management. View source
Other ways we can help
Speech Therapy
Help for late talkers, unclear speech, stammering and language delay, through play your child enjoys.
Motor & Daily Skills
Motor, handwriting and self-care skills, built up through purposeful play.
ABA Therapy
ABA and positive-behaviour support for autism, ADHD and hard-to-manage behaviour.
Life Skills: your questions answered
They can do it if I stand there. Does that count?
That is the first stage. Independence is when they start, keep going and finish with you in another room. Fade on purpose: do, then point, then wait.
Is this occupational therapy?
No. Buttons and spoons overlap with motor skill-building, which we also do not staff as licensed OT. See motor and daily skills for that honesty.
My teenager refuses every chore. Is it laziness?
Often the task is too big or the day is already used up. Shrink it. See life skills for teens.
They will not use the school toilet.
That is a separate plan: asking, clothing, a known stall. Tell us the school’s rule as well as yours. See dressing, eating and toileting.
How many skills at once?
One this month. Twelve at once is how mornings collapse.
Do you run a potty-training programme for autistic children?
We teach toileting as a life skill — asking, sitting, clothing, flush — not as a weekend boot camp. Constipation, pain and fear of the school stall have to be named first. Bring what already happens at home on video if you can.
Worried about your child? Let’s talk.
A short, friendly conversation is the best first step. Call, text or WhatsApp us — we’ll listen and guide you, with no pressure.
MPS Road, Block A Model Town, Multan (near Bloomfield Hall School, Street No. 2) · Mon–Fri, 2 PM – 6 PM