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School Readiness: What Is It?

When we talk about getting kids ready for school, we’re looking at how we can take young children and give them the skills to succeed in a classroom, both socially and academically. These are some of the skills we focus on at Prism: 

  1. Following Basic Instructions 

When we interact with young children, it’s necessary for them to have a few basic skills. The first is being able to recognize and acknowledge when they hear their name. Once they’re reliably responding to their name, we look for following single instructions (“Stand up” or “high-five!”). Then we look for them to respond to instructions with multiple steps (“Stand up, give me the toy, then high-five!”).  

  1. Functional Communication Skills 

By the time children get to kindergarten, they should be able to ask for help, as well as materials and attention from peers and adults, consistently and independently. 

  1. Tolerating Delays 

Children should also be able to tolerate short, unexpected and expected delays from both adults and peers when they’re waiting for the next point in their schedule or an item that they want. 

  1. Friendship Skills 

By the time they enter kindergarten, children should be able to say thank you, acknowledge or compliment others, share, and provide comfort when someone around them is upset.  

To read more about a preschool life skills program, you can read Hanley et al. 2007 

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