The Development of a Curriculum to Enhance Independent Living Skills in Home for Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to develop a curriculum for enhancing independent living skills in home for children with intellectual disabilities. The target group are experts with specific experience working with children with intellectual disabilities and selected by purposive sampling. The data collection tools namely, the focus group recording form with content validity between 0.80 - 1.00 and in-depth interview with content validity equal to 1.00. The data analysis used content analysis method. The results of the research are as follows ; 1) At present, schools do not have specific curriculum concerning the enhancement of independent living skills in home for children with intellectual disabilities. In addition, teachers do not have guidelines for organizing learning activities. Expectations of persons concerned are in the high level, namely, children are able to help themselves. Moreover, to develop the curriculum that covers important house chores, such as cleaning the house, cooking, cleaning the container, laundry and cleaning a bathroom, guidelines should be introduced. 2) Developing the curriculum for enhancing independent living skills in home for children with intellectual disabilities has 4 components ; (1) the purpose of curriculum, (2) the contents, (3)  learning management, and (4) measurement and evaluation. The results of curriculum assessment in utility, feasibility and appropriateness are in the highest level while accuracy is in high level.