Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD®)
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Practical Skills for Greater Independence
CARD® is partnering with Skills Living to help transitioning youth and adults build meaningful skills for life at home, at work, and in the community.
Through structured assessment, individualized instruction, and progress tracking, Skills Living provides a clear path toward greater independence while allowing each learner’s program to reflect their abilities, priorities, and goals.
Building Skills for Life
At CARD®, we believe every person deserves opportunities to participate more fully in the routines, relationships, and communities that matter to them.
That is why CARD® has partnered with Skills Living, an evidence-based digital platform designed to support independent living instruction for transitioning youth and adults with developmental or adaptive needs.
Skills Living offers structured lessons, detailed teaching steps, and built-in progress tracking across many areas of adult life. CARD® clinicians can use these resources as part of an individualized treatment plan to help learners develop practical abilities that support greater confidence, participation, and independence.
What Is Skills Living?
Skills Living is a comprehensive digital platform that helps professionals, families, and support teams assess, teach, and track independent living skills.
The platform brings assessment, instruction, and data collection together in one place. Lessons can be selected and adapted around the learner’s strengths, needs, goals, environment, and stage of life.
Rather than following a one-size-fits-all curriculum, CARD® clinicians can use Skills Living resources to create a personalized path based on the skills that are most meaningful to each learner.
Supporting the Many Dimensions of Adulthood
Adulthood involves much more than completing household tasks or preparing for employment. It includes communicating needs, managing responsibilities, developing relationships, navigating the community, making decisions, and participating in meaningful activities.
Skills Living organizes instruction across 15 key areas of adulthood:
Executive Functions
Attention
Determining Saliency
Disengagement
Divided Attention
Paraphrasing
Shifting Attention
Stimulus Orienting
Summarizing
Sustained Attention
Flexibility
Language Flexibility
Nonsocial Flexibility
Shades of Gray
Social Flexibility
Metacognition
Metamemory
Non-vocal Inhibition
Vocal Inhibition
Waiting
Memory
Auditory Memory
Episodic Memory
Spatial Memory
Visual Memory
Working Memory
Problem Solving
Nonsocial Problem Solving
Simple Problem Solving
Social Problem Solving
Housing
Securing Housing
Searching for Housing
Roommates
Searching for a Roommate
Completing Housing Applications
Housing Contracts
Maintaining Housing
Requesting Repairs by Landlord/Leasing Agency
Community/Housing Rules
Paying Rent
Paying Utilities
Cognition
Cognition
Beliefs
Cause and Effect
Deception
Desires
Detecting Sarcasm
Emotions
Intentions
Knowing
Physical States
Preferences
Senses
Sensory Perspective Taking
Thinking
Community Integration
Accessing the Community
Voting
Accessing a Community Health Clinic
Access the Library
Accessing a Post Office
Community Rules
Public Behavior
Employment
Pre-Employment Skills
Job Searching
Completing Job Applications
Interview Skills
Post-Hire Employment Skills
Completing Employment Forms
Health & Safety
General Health Care
Preventing the Spread of Germs
Skin Health Care
Following Special Diets
Prescribed Health
Taking Prescribed Medicine
Filling Prescription Medication
General Eye Care
Contact Lens Wear Care
Eyeglasses Care
Menstrual Care
Using Feminine Hygiene Products
Tracking Menstrual Cycle
Oral Hygiene
Scheduling Dental Check-Ups
Caring for Dental Problems
Personal Hygiene
Caring for Acne
Shaving
Using Deodorant
First Aid
Caring for Minor Cuts
Caring for Minor Burns
Caring for Sprained Joints
Personal Information
Personal Information
Emergency Procedures
Calling 911
Choking Procedures
Fire Safety
Earthquake Safety
Safety Awareness
General Safety Awareness
Electrical Safety
General Electrical Safety
Household Safety
Answering the Door
Door Safety
Safety with Broken Items
Window Safety
Using Household Chemicals
Independent Living
Adaptive Fluency
Adaptive Fluency
Domestic
Table Manners
Restaurant Readiness
Grocery Shopping
Shopping for Clothing Online
Washing Dishes
Tidying
Vacuuming
Clothing Care
Cleaning
Gardening
Making a Bed
Money
Money Concepts
Feeding Skills
Self-Feeding
Snacks and Meals
Dressing Skills
Undressing
Self-Dressing
Unfastening
Fastening
Personal Hygiene
Toileting
Bathing
Teeth Care
Hair Care
Nail Care
Leisure
Bowling Skills
Preparing to Bowl
Bowling
End of Bowling Activities
Health Club/Gym Skills
Registering for a Membership
Arriving to the Facility
Locker Room Skills
Operating Exercise Machines
Using Weights
Selecting/Participating in an Exercise Class
Individual Games/Activities
Playing Computer Games
Puzzles
Listening to Music
Library Skills
Individual Sports/Exercise
Swimming
Running
Biking
Hiking
Technology
Computers
Basic Computer Skills
Basic Internet Skills
Basic Email Skills
Telephone
Basic Telephone Skills
Cellphones
Basic Cellphone Skills
Apps
Using Apps
Vocational Technology
Copy Machine
Scanner
Fax Machine
Printer
Office Phone
Laminating Machine
Microwave
Paper Shredder
Coffee Maker
Leisure Technology
Portable Music Device
DVD/Blu-ray Player
Social Media
Digital Camera
House Phone
Alarm Clock
Video Games
Basic Television Skills
Basic Tablet Skills
Connecting to Wi-Fi Network
Video Messaging
Relationship Skills
Social Interaction
Apologizing
Assertiveness
Borrowing and Lending
Compliments
Compromise, Collaboration, and Negotiations
Gaining Attention
Introductions
Levels of Friendship and Relationships
Personality Attributes
Regulating Others
Sharing and Turn-Taking
Social Referencing
Social Language
Conversation: Putting it All Together
Conversational Audience
Ending Conversation
General Knowledge
Greeting and Salutations
Initiating Conversation
Joining Conversations
Listening to Conversations
Maintaining Conversations
Physical Context of a Conversation
Prosody
Repairing Conversation
Transitioning Topics of Conversation
Self-Esteem
Constructive Criticism
Dealing with Conflict
Positive Self-Statements
Winning and Losing
Social Skills
Non-Vocal Social Behavior
Body Language and Facial Expressions
Eye Contact
Gestures to Regulate Social Interaction
Non-Vocal Imitation
Compliance
Joint Attention
Social Rules
Following Rules
Politeness and Manners
Say-Do Correspondence
Social Context
Basic Social Cues
Complex Social Cues
Learning Through Observation
Group-Related Skills
Group Discussions
Responding in Unison
Absurdities
Figures of Speech
Humor and Jokes
What’s wrong?
Functional Communication
Functional Communication
Echoics
Basic Mands
Objects
Following Instructions
Choices
People
Body Parts
Yes/No
Locations
Actions
Gestures
I Have / I See
Functions
Manding for Information
Categories
Gender
Prepositions
Mobility
Accessing Specialized Transportation Services
Accessing Specialized Transportation Services
Airplane
Booking a Flight
Pre-Flight Procedures
Onboarding Procedures
End of Flight Procedures
Bus
Pre-Ride Procedures
Riding Procedures
Taxi
Requesting a Taxi
Providing the Taxi Driver with a Destination
Paying for a Taxi Ride
Train
Pre-Riding Procedures
Riding Procedures
Bicycle
Riding a Bicycle
Pedestrian
Pedestrian Safety
Accessing the Community as a Pedestrian
Community Access
Riding an Elevator
Asking for Directions
Vocational
Bagging Clerk Skills
Greeting and Bagging Skills
Store Greeter Skills
Greeting and Assisting Customers
Store Clerk Skills
Stocking and Merchandising Skills
Theatre Ticket Usher Skills
Greeting and Ushering Skills
Personal Responsibility
Domestic
Pet Care
Planning
Academic Planning
Activity Schedules and To-Do Lists
Adaptive Planning
Organizing Materials
Social Planning
Using a Weekly Homework Sheet
Using a Planner
Learners do not need to work through every area. The relevant domains and lessons are selected according to individualized assessments, current needs, personal preferences, family priorities, and future goals.
Why Skills Living?
A Personalized Path Toward Independence
Independent living does not look the same for everyone. One learner may be working toward preparing meals, following a schedule, or completing personal-care routines. Another may be learning to navigate transportation, participate in the workplace, manage personal responsibilities, or build stronger social relationships.
Skills Living provides a flexible framework that allows instruction to focus on what independence means for the individual.
The platform can help treatment teams:
- Identify practical and meaningful goals
- Break larger skills into teachable steps
- Customize instruction around the learner
- Track progress using measurable data
- Adjust teaching strategies as needs change
- Coordinate goals across members of the support team
- Connect structured learning with real-life application
Collaborative Support
Working Together Toward Meaningful Goals
Developing independent living skills often involves many people and environments. Skills learned during treatment may also need to be practiced at home, in educational settings, at work, or in the community.
Skills Living is designed to support collaboration among professionals, families, educators, caregivers, and organizations. Within CARD services, families and caregivers remain important members of the treatment team.
This coordinated approach can help new skills move beyond structured instruction and become part of everyday life.
Collaboration may include:
- Selecting goals that are important to the learner
- Identifying when and where skills are needed
- Sharing strategies across members of the support team
- Practicing skills during everyday routines
- Reviewing progress and emerging needs
- Preparing for future transitions
- Adjusting goals as the learner’s life changes
Skills Living and CARD®
One Resource Within Individualized ABA Services
Skills Living may be used as one component of a broader, individualized CARD® treatment plan. The platform does not replace clinical assessment, treatment planning, professional judgment, or direct ABA services.
CARD® clinicians determine whether Skills Living resources are appropriate based on the learner’s needs, clinical recommendations, service setting, funding requirements, and treatment goals.
When incorporated into services, Skills Living can provide additional structure and teaching resources to support goals.
CARD®’s existing Teen and Adult Program already supports individualized goals in areas such as daily living, communication, social development, relationships, and employment preparation. Skills Living can therefore be positioned as a complementary resource within that larger program. The Skills for Parents page also establishes a useful precedent for describing CARD® as having “teamed up with” an outside platform while explaining how it fits into CARD® services.
Who May Benefit?
Supporting Transitioning Youth and Adults
Skills Living may be appropriate for transitioning youth and adults who would benefit from structured support in developing practical skills for adulthood.
The program may support individuals who are working toward:
- Greater participation in home routines
- Increased safety and personal responsibility
- Improved communication and self-advocacy
- Greater community access
- More independent leisure and social participation
- Employment or vocational readiness
- Future changes in housing, education, or support needs
Eligibility and program recommendations are determined individually by the CARD clinical team.
Getting Started
Build Skills for the Life Ahead
Every learner has different strengths, priorities, and possibilities for the future. CARD®’s Teen and Adult Program provides individualized support designed to help teens and adults develop practical skills for greater participation and independence.
Speak with your CARD® team to learn whether Skills Living-supported instruction may be appropriate for you or your family member.
New patient inquiries:
877-448-4747
CARDEnrollment@centerforautism.com