Scanning, blur interpretation, monocular use, soliciting assistance, and room orientation patterns are just a few skills that can be incorporated into this lesson.

All grocery stores carry most of the same products but prices can vary depending where you go. One of the most popular comparisons I hear about is Target vs. Walmart.

This activity takes place over two lessons within two grocery stores of your students choosing. First tell your student to write a grocery list with any twenty items of their choosing, and pretend they are doing the grocery shopping for their family that week. I usually tell them to start with foods they like to eat for breakfast, then lunch, and dinner. I also let them throw in some junk food for fun. Most of my students aren’t familiar with the brands of foods, but just know they like “frozen pizza” for example. Once my student comes up with a list I have them pick a grocery store. For example, when I did this one student chose Target and the other Safeway. Once at the store I had the students use the mobility techniques as mentioned above to find their items and write down the price. I did not let my student write down the first item they found. For example, one student wanted white bread and was going to write down the brand and price of the first loaf he found. I instructed him to scan the entire shelf to check what choices he had before making a decision. If the student was not specific about which brand he or she wanted, this is where I have them note that down for part two of the activity.

Part two of this activity is to have the student choose a second store to visit and repeat the process again, but this time he or she has to find the exact brands that they chose at the first store. Once all the prices have been collected have the student compare the prices to see which store gives them a better deal.

I like this activity because it provides practice of mobility skills but also prepares my students for adult life and hopefully they can get an idea of which stores they will choose to shop at. One of my students mentioned to me he always hears his grandmother complaining about certain stores being more expensive than others, but he doesn’t pay attention to which ones she is talking about. After this activity now he will be able to share what he learned with her.

Examples of items:

cereal, apples, chips, toothpaste, soap, milk, waffles, bread, salami, eggs, chicken, soda, rice, mustard, ice cream, donuts, grapes, pizza

(This can also be a transition into using public transportation to a grocery store and specifically the stores they choose.)