Functional Independence Skills Handbook (FISH)

The Functional Independence Skills Handbook (FISH) is used for determining a person's ability to perform certain functional activities from daily life. It was developed for special education teachers, paraeducators, and parents working with individuals with severe developmental disabilities. The outcome of the program, when successful, is a direct increase in personal independence in those with autism, intellectual disabilities, and related disorders.

 

FISH contains (a) an assessment instrument that can assist the professional in determining goals for future educational or developmental training programs for a person with developmental disabilities and (b) sample lesson plans with teaching technique examples for each item evaluated. The assessment directly relates to the accompanying curriculum. The gaining of information for the test often provides more parent or related discipline involvement. If used for pretraining and follow-up skills assessment, this material may be helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of an educational or rehabilitation program in providing clear accountability for teaching efforts. Administrators are drawn to this program because student progress is visually observable.

 

Although targeted toward people with developmental disabilities, this program would also be beneficial for children in the early grade levels or anyone with cognitive deficits, school age through adult. It is a criterion-referenced series of 421 tasks. The assessment instrument and lessons are organized according to seven domains: Adaptive Behavior Skills, Affective (or Emotional) Skills, Cognitive Skills, Sensorimotor Skills, Social Skills, Speech and Language Skills, and Vocational Skills. FISH has a structured curriculum which is sometimes lacking in programs for developmentally disabled persons. Completion of this instrument should result in a list of skills that the person can perform independently. Family members and caregivers will appreciate their roles becoming easier.