Maximizing Independence for Students with Autism: A conversation with Julie Swanson, The Life Skills Lady

<p dir="ltr"><em><strong>A TRANSCRIPT of this episode will be added to the show notes on the podcast website: <a href= "https://specialed.fm">https://SpecialEd.fm</a> shortly after publication.</strong></em></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Life skills are the biggest predictor of adult success for individuals with Autism. Yet, many parents and school teams misunderstand the full breadth of life skills, and they often take a back seat in special education planning.  We discuss the 3 domains and 10 categories of life skills and their importance to increasing quality of life, how to incorporate life skills into the IEP early, and how to navigate transition and the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">My guest for this episode is Julie Swanson, a.k.a. The Life Skills Lady. She is the parent of an adult with an autism spectrum disorder and a non-attorney special education advocate.  Her career as an advocate grew out of her own advocacy efforts for her son.  </p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr">Julie is the founder of <a href= "http://lifeskillslady.com/">lifeskillslady.com</a>, a website devoted to increasing quality of life and independence for students on the autism spectrum.  You can follow her @lifeskillslady on all social media platforms. Julie is also the co-author of Your Special Education Rights: What Your School District Isn’t Telling You.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">You can find the Life Skills Cheat Sheet Julie discusses here: <a href= "https://lifeskillslady.com/resources/life-skills-cheat-sheet/">https://lifeskillslady.com/resources/life-skills-cheat-sheet/</a></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">You can find the IEP Discussion Guide for Life Skills here: <a href= "https://lifeskillslady.com/resources/iep-discussion-guide-for-life-skills/"> https://lifeskillslady.com/resources/iep-discussion-guide-for-life-skills/</a></p> <p dir="ltr"><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">You c