Self-Advocacy, Rights & Responsibilities
Look at these dream houses. Which is your favorite?
Setting up Your Home
What do you need in different areas of your home to be comfortable and have convenient access to your possessions?
If you live with others, do they have possessions in some areas of the house?
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Show and Share
Communication is an important part of having good relationships. When people live with us we can talk to them. But if people live far away we need to reach out in other ways. Letters are a lot of fun, good practice, and people really like getting letters in the mail. Do you have letter writing materials in your house? When your presenter says GO! find as many of these things as you can in 2 minutes.
PRESENTERS: Count down 2 minutes for the scavenger hunt.
- pen
- pencil
- envelopes
- stamps
- stationery
- address book
- paper clips
- scissors
- hole-punch
- stapler
Sharing Housing with Others
- Do you live alone, or with other people?
- If you live with others, are they family, friends or roommates?
- What is the best thing about your living arrangement?
- What is the most challenging part?
Expectations and Contributions
Everyone grows up with different habits and expectations so when we live with people we don't know as well, everyone has to make adjustments.
Look at the suggestions for living with other people.
Do you agree with these?
If you've lived with other people, what have you learned from the experience?
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Role Play
Use these situations to practice ACTIVE LISTENING skills. Two people pretend to be roommates A and B and use the listening skills to understand each other.
PRESENTERS: Model the active listening pattern - listen, repeat what you heard, get confirmation or correction, confirm understanding.
- Roommate A wants to borrow B's coat for a special occasion
- Roommate B has a parent visiting next weekend and wants to know if roommate A minds
- Roommate A needs roommate B to stop throwing wet towels on the bathroom floor.
Replacing Complaining with Action
Look at this strategy for solving roommate problems.
- How would you ask for a meeting to discuss a problem?
- Where would you put the plan you make?
- What makes it difficult to ask someone to work on a problem with you?
What Did We Learn Today?
