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STELZER: I think functional skills are the most important
thing that we as teachers can do for our students is to teach
them something that they will be able to use in the future.
And if sometimes that means sort of the precursors
to those functional skills functional skills--
so it's sort of the beginning skills; the building blocks
for skills that will be used later on.
DESCRIPTION: In a photograph, a boy wearing a blue apron
prepares to place several cans of soda in a vending machine
which he is refilling.
STELZER: Children with CHARGE Syndrome are highly motivated
to be in charge, and they really want their opinion,
I think-- this is, you know, in my opinion-- that they like
their opinion to be first and foremost, and I think
it's really respectful if you as a teacher
can teach them to negotiate.
DESCRIPTION: Back in the kitchen, a teacher
and a dark haired student wearing glasses stand near
the refrigerator and have a conversation using signs
and pointing to symbols.
We see the young boy place his hand on his chin
as he considers his choices.
STELZER: Because I've seen with younger children
who have CHARGE Syndrome who haven't learned yet that art
of negotiation, you might see a tantrum because they want to do
what they want to do immediately,
and they haven't learned that.
DESCRIPTION: As we watch, the two students perform
various tasks to prepare a meal, including getting ingredients
from the refrigerator, wrapping the bread in foil,
and chopping vegetables.
STELZER: Nice work!
So I think it's a great thing a teacher can actually...
a skill that a teacher could give to a student with CHARGE
is how to negotiate and that back and forth.
And it allows you lots of opportunities for language,
turn taking, socialization, because it is all about that.
We do that... we negotiate every day in our lives,
so if I can teach my student... we talked about sharing,
to share something.
It's the beginning of a turn taking, which is a part
of a conversation.
If you... in a conversation, if you always have the turn,
you're not... never having a conversation.
So it's all those building blocks.
DESCRIPTION: A teacher and the dark haired boy stand near
a pot of water which is boiling on a stove.
He grasps a bunch of uncooked spaghetti and breaks it
in half, spraying the teacher with small pieces
and causing the others to laugh.
( laughter )
STELZER: Turn taking becomes a functional skill that you can
teach because it goes for conversations, it goes for
work skills, has all of those kinds of things that become
functional later on.
I think it's really important to families that you teach skills
that they can use.
I can always think about students... well, you know,
"My son can't go bowling"-- I had a student in my class--
"My son can't go bowling."
And I said, "Well, why can't he go bowling?"
"Well, he can't see the pins down... that far down the end."
And I said, "But does he really need to see that...
"the pins down?
"Can you tell them?
"Can you," you know, "teach them all the other aspects of that?"
And it becomes a really functional skills,
and you know, parents hadn't... his parents had never
had thought of that.
"Well, we didn't think about that."
DESCRIPTION: A photograph shows a young boy wearing
a striped shirt preparing to roll the ball
in a bowling alley.
On the ground near his feet, we see a board with the numbers
"1," "2," and "3," each with a corresponding symbol.
STELZER: And so we taught him how to go bowling in school,
and I could get in all the skills that I wanted to teach,
because I can teach counting, I can teach adding-- you could add
how many pins-- you could teach turn taking, you could teach,
I mean, the rules of the game, so something that is sort of
a "fun" activity becomes a functional activity,
because it's something that he can do in the future for leisure
with his family or in the future if he's in a group home
or if he lives in an apartment with his friends,
whatever he wants to do.
DESCRIPTION: A dark haired boy in glasses stands
in a bowling alley behind a ramp-like device
which helps to roll the ball towards the bowling pins.
He is smiling with his arms upraised.
A woman in the background cheers as well.
STELZER: I'm not just teaching these skills because
I have a little check-list of, "Oh, every student
should learn these skills."
I really want to think, "What skills can this student use
"that will be functional; that they'll be able
to use in the future?"
And that's really the goal.
I mean, that's why we teach kids to communicate,
because we're social people and we want our kids
who have special needs to be social people.
DESCRIPTION: In the kitchen, a blond boy walks toward
the refrigerator and gestures in a friendly way
towards the camera.
We then see him putting drinking glasses on a table.
A dark haired boy wearing a white apron carries a bowl
full of spaghetti to the table.
A large bowl of salad, as well as a bowl of pasta sauce,
are also on the table.
STELZER: I think any kind of time that you can do functional
activities or something that has a purpose,
I think it's really important.
DESCRIPTION: Fade to black.