For Australian citizens under NDIS, developing essential life skills goes way beyond just completing daily routine tasks. In fact, it stands for true independence, self-confidence, and the freedom to live life independently.
At Special Care Australia, we have helped thousands of NDIS participants obtain practical everyday skills essential for independent living. Our evidence-based approach to life development skills have helped us identify important life skills, such as cooking, budgeting, and travel training, that lead to meaningful changes for people with disabilities.
Building Life Skills Under the NDIS: What You Need to Know
When we speak of life skills, we refer to capabilities that help NDIS participants independently handle day-to-day activities. In contrast to core supports, which offer âhands-offâ support, capacity buildingâs primary focus is to help participants gain the capabilities to carry out these activities themselves.
The NDIS funds these programs because studies demonstrate that life skills development improves the participants’ quality of life. Obtaining focused skills such as cooking, travelling, or learning to take care of their finances gives them the confidence to manage real-life challenges or situations without seeking outside assistance.
Managing Finances
Money management is one of the most important aspects of helping an NDIS participant live a confident and independent life. It includes skills like understanding money, deciding on budgets, avoiding scams, protecting identity, using banks, and keeping a tab on income and expenditure. Lack of these skills may compel a person to be dependent on others.
Financial skills start with basics like helping a person recognise coins and notes before moving on to using cards, ATMs, and online banking. Participants learn how to spend and save money and the fundamentals of needs vs. wants through real-life experiences like shopping.
Community Access and Travelling
The ability to navigate community spaces and travel using public transport goes a long way in making NDIS participants independent and confident. They learn the basics of travelling on their own, like reading timetables, risk-free usage of public transport, staying safe, and seeking help if in need.
The skills to travel alone allows them to attend social events, go to work, or any other place without always seeking assistance. In addition, they are also trained to use travel apps, plan routes, and identify landmarks.
Personalized, step-by-step training is important so that they can start with full support and gradually move on to safely travel on their own with confidence.
Cooking and Nutrition
Learning to cook healthy and nutritious meals is the key to living a healthy and fulfilling life. NDIS participants are taught the basics of preparing a well-balanced and nutritious meal by helping them learn about things like kitchen safety, reading food labels, following simple recipes, and using proper equipment to plan and prepare balanced meals. Cooking sessions start with easy tasks like making cold meals before moving on to learn using stoves and ovens. They are also taught about grocery shopping, meal planning, and budgeting to ensure they choose the right foods for their needs and also feel confident about hosting friends and family.
At Special Care Australia, we are with you every step of the way to turn your NDIS goals into meaningful, real-life results. Reach out to our friendly team at info@specialcare.au to explore how we can support you or your loved ones in building confidence and living a more fulfilling, independent, and empowered life.
