Community-based instruction is an awesome opportunity for students ready to leave their school site and practice their independent skills in a variety of real-life settings. But, what about your students who need more than the typical classroom environment but are not quite ready for a community outing? A great middle-ground can be mock rooms or spaces that mimic the community opportunities your students are working toward accessing. Where I work, we are beginning to build spaces that our students can access to grow their life and job skills, while still in an environment that can support their unique behavioral needs. Our goal is that these vocational spaces will help our students to generalize their classroom skills in a new environment that will prepare them for their first community based instruction trip in the future!

Work Room

The space features desks, chairs, and shelving that is different than those found in the classroom. There are sorting bins, labeled task boxes, and a variety of materials for tasks that students can complete. The room is made to provide a space to work on beginning trade skills, resume writing, independent tasks, and other activities in an environment that is different from the classroom. This provides students with a room where they can practice generalizing skills they already have, but in a new environment.

I hope that these spaces give you inspiration to create a vocational area in your classroom. If creating a space isn’t possible for you yet, check out the Life Skills Bundles (Household & Community) for a variety of interactive materials to help your students learn about environments outside of their classroom.