Unit 5: Transportation
Lesson 1: Using Public Transportation
Topic 2: Learning Your Chosen Mode of Transportation
OBJECTIVE
Learn how to independently use the chosen form of transportation.
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES
Janus Life Skills: Understanding Schedules – A $7.95 workbook
by Globe Fearon (1800 848-9500).
INSTRUCTIONAL FORMAT
This lesson is designed to teach a person how to use a particular mode of
transportation. Depending on the community and where the student is traveling,
there can be several different lesson plans. Therefore, this lesson will
not contain various types of training formats. Instead, it will provide a
framework from which a trainer can develop a lesson plan for each student.
Students in the same area will use similar modes of transportation. Thus,
once a trainer develops a lesson plan for using bus transportation, for example,
for one student, she can use it for other students.
There are some common skills for using all transportation that will need
to be taught. The students will need to learn how to read a schedule if there
is one, how to get to where they will be picked up, how to pay for the
transportation, and how to tell the driver their destination. Different students
will need the material broken up into smaller steps depending on their cognitive
level. In order to assess how much training a person needs, the trainer will
need to use a task analysis. A sample task analysis/lesson plan for riding
a bus can be found later in this lesson. The trainer can ask the student
if they know how to complete the tasks or have the person actually try to
use the transportation service. Either method will give the trainer an idea
about the areas the student needs to be trained.
The training for this skill should use basic chaining. As the student accomplishes one step, he should be taught the next step in relation to the previous step. Classroom instruction in which visual aids (schedules, pictures of the mode of transportation, etc.) are used can be helpful. Some students will need to practice the steps in the classroom. The progression to using the transportation will provide the most learning. Below is a lesson plan that was used in a study to teach developmentally disabled adults how to use a bus. The source is cited below. As a reminder, using a taxi cab will require the person to call the company, indicate the time to be picked up, and tipping the cab driver.
Sample task analysis/lesson plan
Subject indicates destination.
Subject walks to and identifies correct bus stop.
Subject waits at bus stop facing approaching bus.
Subject reads destination (bus number) on front of bus.
Subject signals for bus to stop.
Subject waits to board.
Subject enters front door.
Subject pays correct amount (purchases a transfer if needed).
Subject sits in empty seat or stands in the back of the bus.
Subject rides quietly and does not disturb others.
Subject looks for landmarks indicating the required destination.
Subject pulls cord prior to destination.
Subject stands and holds rail until the bus comes to a stop
Subject exits.
Subject moves away from the bus.
This is a very detailed task analysis, and most students may not need the lesson broken down into these separate steps. Other students will need this amount of detail. Additionally, some will need training in counting and identifying money in order to pay as well as training in reading schedules in order to know when the bus is coming.
Robinson, D., Griffith, J., McComish, K., & Swasbrook, K. (1984). Bus training for developmentally disabled adults. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 89, 37-43.
SIGNS OF GENERALIZATION
The student is able to use his or her chosen mode of transportation
independently.
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