With the use of the debit card becoming more and more common, the average person does not visit their bank regularly. People go months, maybe even years without stepping foot inside a bank. There’s no need if everything is electronic. So why teach appropriate banking skills to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities if almost everything can be done electronically?
Debit cards make spending money abstract because you can’t feel the money leave your wallet. That makes it too easy to over spend when using a debit card. For this reason, students should store the debit card and budget with cash! In my last blog on Learning Life Skills, we discussed budgeting. Budgeting and spending cash gives you both a physical limit to how much money you can spend and allows you to see where your money is going when you spend it.
If we are budgeting and spending cash, where do we get it? The bank! When students first come to Shepherds College, we recommend they open an account at a local bank. This allows us to take students to the bank for the regular withdrawals that accompany their budget. Here’s how the banking process works:
Debit cards make spending money abstract because you can’t feel the money leave your wallet. That makes it too easy to over spend when using a debit card. For this reason, students should store the debit card and budget with cash! In my last blog on Learning Life Skills, we discussed budgeting. Budgeting and spending cash gives you both a physical limit to how much money you can spend and allows you to see where your money is going when you spend it.
If we are budgeting and spending cash, where do we get it? The bank! When students first come to Shepherds College, we recommend they open an account at a local bank. This allows us to take students to the bank for the regular withdrawals that accompany their budget. Here’s how the banking process works:
- Students determine wants and needs on their Student Money Request (SMR) form. (See below)
- Students look on the back of their SMR form to make sure they have enough money left in their monthly budget to make the purchases for the week (sometimes two weeks).
- Students write a check to themself or fills out a withdrawal slip for the budgeted amount and takes it to the bank.
- Students withdraw their money and count it for the teacher, reinforcing their skills in counting money.
- Students are responsible for their money and following their budget; when it’s gone, it’s gone.
| weekly_budget_smr_sheet.pdf |
 | Erin Luchterhand |
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