A Domestic Training Environment for Students Who are Severely Handicapped

This paper describes a domestic training environment created through a joint agreement among 10 rural public school districts. The environment was designed to teach severely handicapped students domestic skills in a natural and future community environment. The program was provided by the DeKalb County Special Education Association (DCSEA) in the state of Illinois. Severely handicapped students, ages 18 to 21, received training from a certified teacher and an assistant three overnights a week for 3 consecutive weeks. All students, ages 6 to 21, received day training in the environment from their classroom teachers. Skills checklists and schedules utilized by the domestic trainers are discussed and illustrated along with the logistics and costs of providing the training environment.