Essentials for Living: The Essential 8 Assessment

Essentials for Living is a curriculum and assessment for ABA. It focuses on learners with moderate to severe disabilities. It helps teams pick the skills that matter most for daily life.

This matters because these learners need the right targets. BCBAs, RBTs, and parents want to teach skills that help now. The tool points to core life skills, not busywork. It also helps track real progress over time.

For learners with high needs, time is precious. You cannot teach everything at once. Essentials for Living helps you choose what matters most. It keeps the focus on skills that improve daily life.

What Essentials for Living covers#

Essentials for Living is built around real-life needs. It looks at skills like requesting, waiting, and daily routines. The goal is a life with more choice and less frustration.

Inside the curriculum is a short tool called the Essential 8. It names the first skills most learners need. These are the building blocks for a fuller life. Once these are strong, other skills can follow. Valerie Weber explains what it holds.

this quick assessment has the essential skills that we need to build with learners for moderate to severe disabilities. And the scores range from one to four. From the talk. Valerie Weber

The one to four scale keeps scoring simple. A low score shows a skill that needs a lot of help. A higher score shows more independence. This makes growth easy to see.

A simple scale is easy for a whole team to use. Staff do not need hours of training to score it. Parents can understand the numbers too. That shared clarity keeps everyone working toward the same goals.

Using the Essential 8 to show progress#

The Essential 8 works well as a before-and-after measure. You score a learner, teach for a while, then score again. The change in numbers tells a clear story.

In one case, a team led with connection and trust first. After months of this work, the scores climbed. Dr. Megan DeLeon shares the result.

All of the things that were at a one are now at a two. From the talk — Dr. Megan DeLeon

A move from one to two may sound small. But for these learners, each step is real progress. It shows the plan is working.

This kind of data also helps with families and funders. A simple number shift is easy to share. It turns hard work into a visible win.

Connection can come first#

The Essential 8 does not force a rigid teaching order. In one case series, the team led with connection first. They built a warm, trusting relationship before drilling skills.

The scores still climbed after that relationship work. Skills that started at a one moved up over months. This shows that trust and skills can grow together. A strong bond can make skill teaching easier.

This fits the heart of good ABA service. Learners with high needs still deserve real relationships. The assessment tracks skills, but people drive the progress. The tool and the relationship work as a team.

An affordable, practical tool#

One reason BCBAs like this tool is the low cost. The Essential 8 booklet is very cheap. Kelly Brzak recommends it to everyone.

If you have not used the Essential for Living, Essential 8 booklet, it's only $13. I highly recommend that you at least try it out. From the talk. Kelly Brzak

The low price makes it easy to try. You do not need a big budget to start. That is rare for a solid assessment tool.

A cheap tool also spreads more easily to families. Parents and staff can each have their own copy. Everyone can track the same skills at home and in session. This shared view keeps the whole team aligned.

What the Essential 8 tracks#

The booklet follows key daily-life skills over time. It watches leisure, requesting, and coping with "no." Kelly describes the running record inside.

There is a wonderful running record style that allows you to track leisure activities for the children, to track their ability to make requests, to tolerate when the requests are denied or delayed. From the talk. Kelly Brzak

These skills shape a learner's whole day. Asking for what you want builds independence. Handling a "no" builds patience and calm. Leisure skills fill free time in healthy ways.

Kelly also notes a practical bonus. Some insurers accept the Essential 8 as a covered assessment. That can make it easier to use in real caseloads.

Why these skills matter most#

The tool focuses on skills that shape a whole life. Requesting lets a learner get needs met without acting out. Waiting and handling "no" build patience for daily life. Leisure skills give a learner ways to enjoy free time.

These are not school skills or test skills. They are life skills that matter every single day. A learner who can ask, wait, and cope has more freedom. That is the real goal for learners with high needs.

Kelly uses the booklet with nearly every client. She treats it as a supplement, not the only tool. It rounds out a fuller picture of the learner. Simple, steady tracking guides the next targets.

Kelly shares more on early-childhood skills in Child Development Deep Dive: Early Childhood (2-5 year olds).

FAQ#

What is Essentials for Living?

It is an ABA curriculum and assessment for daily-life skills. It serves learners with moderate to severe disabilities. It helps teams choose the most useful targets. The focus is real independence, not busywork.

What is the Essential 8?

The Essential 8 is a short, low-cost assessment inside the curriculum. It names the first core skills most learners need. Skills are scored on a one to four scale. This makes progress easy to track.

How do BCBAs use the Essential 8?

BCBAs use it to pick targets and measure growth. They score a learner, teach, then score again. It tracks skills like requesting, leisure, and handling denial. Some insurers accept it as a covered assessment.