Vinnie Amodio and Jackie Stein, special education teachers at John Quincy Adams, recently took their K-2 students on a field trip to IHOP in West Babylon to learn appropriate life skills as well as proper manners and behavior in a restaurant. The students were also encouraged to use expressive communication skills as they ordered off a menu.

Prior to going on the trip, the JQA students were presented with a copy of the IHOP kids menu, and practiced ordering off the menu with their teachers and teaching assistants. Students who wanted special requests or substitutions practiced those requests as well. The children studied the ingredients in each menu item to determine what would be the best choice, based on their likes and dislikes. Students also practiced ordering drinks and saying please and thank you through a classroom role-play simulation. They were taught proper table manners and public behavior, and were even shown how to pay the bill. 

“This was a great way for the children to take the communication skills they are learning in their speech sessions and apply them to real-world situations,” said Amodio.