Give your child the life skills to thrive — at every stage
The Merchant Center gives parents, caregivers, and special education teachers a complete, structured curriculum — covering everything from morning hygiene routines to job interviews — so you can teach with confidence and watch your learner grow.
"Every lesson here was designed for the teacher sitting at the table, doing the hard work — because that's where real learning actually happens."
— Dr. Clarence Merchant II ThD PhD
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Guide a child through a complete Activities of Daily Living routine — from hygiene to meal prep — using visual supports and structured prompting strategies
- Implement a social skills curriculum across beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, teaching turn-taking, empathy, and workplace social skills at the right developmental stage
- Apply evidence-based emotional regulation tools — including Zones of Regulation, deep breathing, and sensory diet activities — to reduce meltdowns and build self-calming habits
- Build a functional academic program covering reading, writing, and math skills tied directly to real-life tasks like shopping, budgeting, and completing forms
- Prepare a young adult with autism for vocational readiness — including job interviews, workplace behavior, resume basics, and career exploration
- Support a learner's path to independent living by teaching community navigation, apartment living skills, transportation use, and health self-management
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
9 modules · 48 lessons
Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
Builds a complete personal care and home management routine using visual supports and structured prompting strategies.
- 1.1Personal Hygiene FoundationsIncluded
- 1.2Dressing and Toileting IndependenceIncluded
- 1.3Meal Preparation BasicsIncluded
- 1.4Household Chores and Cleaning RoutinesIncluded
- 1.5Using Visual Supports and Prompting StrategiesIncluded
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs)
Develops the real-world life management skills needed for semi-independent and independent community living.
- 2.1Grocery Shopping and Meal PlanningIncluded
- 2.2Money Management and Banking BasicsIncluded
- 2.3Phone Skills and Digital CommunicationIncluded
- 2.4Scheduling Appointments and Time ManagementIncluded
- 2.5Medication Management and Home SafetyIncluded
- 2.6Internet Safety and Online SkillsIncluded
Communication Skills
Develops receptive, expressive, social, and AAC communication across every stage of a learner's needs.
- 3.1Receptive Language: Following Directions and Building VocabularyIncluded
- 3.2Expressive Language: Requesting, Answering, and DescribingIncluded
- 3.3Conversation and Social Communication SkillsIncluded
- 3.4Telephone Etiquette and Digital CommunicationIncluded
- 3.5AAC Systems: PECS, Communication Boards, and Speech-Generating DevicesIncluded
Social Skills Curriculum
Builds social competence from foundational sharing and turn-taking through advanced workplace and relationship skills.
- 4.1Beginner Social Skills: Sharing, Waiting, and Playing TogetherIncluded
- 4.2Intermediate Social Skills: Friendship, Empathy, and Personal SpaceIncluded
- 4.3Advanced Social Skills: Conflict Resolution and TeamworkIncluded
- 4.4Dating Awareness and Relationship BoundariesIncluded
- 4.5Workplace Social SkillsIncluded
Emotional Regulation and Sensory Integration
Equips learners and caregivers with evidence-based tools to identify emotions, manage sensory needs, and build self-calming habits.
- 5.1Identifying Emotions and Building Emotional VocabularyIncluded
- 5.2Zones of Regulation FrameworkIncluded
- 5.3Coping Strategies: Deep Breathing, Mindfulness, and Self-CalmingIncluded
- 5.4Managing Frustration, Anxiety, and AngerIncluded
- 5.5Sensory Diet Activities and Sensory ProcessingIncluded
- 5.6Fine Motor, Gross Motor, and Proprioceptive RegulationIncluded
Executive Function and Behavior Self-Management
Develops planning, organization, impulse control, and self-advocacy skills that underpin independence across all life domains.
- 6.1Organization, Planning, and PrioritizingIncluded
- 6.2Initiating Tasks, Working Memory, and Flexible ThinkingIncluded
- 6.3Goal Setting, Problem Solving, and Decision MakingIncluded
- 6.4Positive Behavior Supports, Reinforcement Systems, and Routine ManagementIncluded
- 6.5Self-Monitoring, Self-Advocacy, and Impulse ControlIncluded
Functional Academics
Delivers a real-life reading, writing, and math program directly tied to daily tasks like shopping, budgeting, and completing forms.
- 7.1Functional Reading: Sight Words, Community Signs, and ComprehensionIncluded
- 7.2Functional Writing: Handwriting, Keyboarding, and Completing FormsIncluded
- 7.3Functional Math: Counting, Time, and MeasurementIncluded
- 7.4Money Math: Shopping, Budgeting, and Making ChangeIncluded
- 7.5Cognitive Skills: Matching, Sorting, Sequencing, and AttentionIncluded
Life Skills, Safety, and Community Navigation
Prepares learners to stay safe, access community resources, and participate confidently in everyday community life.
- 8.1Personal Safety: Strangers, Emergencies, and Fire SafetyIncluded
- 8.2First Aid Basics and Health AppointmentsIncluded
- 8.3Community Outings: Shopping, Restaurants, and the LibraryIncluded
- 8.4Banking, Post Office, and Public RecreationIncluded
- 8.5Public Transportation and Community IndependenceIncluded
Vocational Readiness and Independent Living
Equips young adults with the workplace skills, apartment living knowledge, and self-management tools needed for adult independence.
- 9.1Career Exploration and Volunteer SkillsIncluded
- 9.2Workplace Behavior: Attendance, Instructions, and Professional ConductIncluded
- 9.3Resume Basics and Job InterviewsIncluded
- 9.4Customer Service SkillsIncluded
- 9.5Apartment Living: Bills, Cleaning Schedules, and Grocery BudgetingIncluded
- 9.6Community Participation and Health Self-ManagementIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
Homeschool parent
She pulled her son from public school and needs a structured, all-in-one curriculum she can actually deliver at home without a specialist in the room.
Special education teacher
He supports students with ASD across multiple ability levels and wants a practical, organized resource to supplement IEP goals and classroom instruction.
Grandparent caregiver
She's raising her teenage grandson with autism and wants clear, jargon-free guidance on building daily living and community skills at his developmental stage.
Transition-age advocate
She's preparing her young adult child for vocational life — job interviews, workplace behavior, and independent living — and needs a curriculum that takes that seriously.
Early intervention parent
His toddler was recently diagnosed and he wants to understand how to build communication, social, and self-care foundations from the very beginning.
Residential support worker
She works with young adults with ASD in a group home setting and needs structured, practical lessons for daily living, safety, and community participation.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Dr. Clarence Merchant II ThD PhD
If you're reading this, I already know something about you. You've spent time — probably a lot of it — searching for resources that actually fit your child's life. You've printed worksheets that got ignored, bought programs that assumed too much, and sat through trainings that felt like they were written for someone else. You're not looking for perfect. You're looking for something that works, that you can use at home, and that doesn't make you feel like you need a master's degree to pull it off.
That's exactly why The Merchant Center exists.
This curriculum was built around the skills that truly shape a person's quality of life — the ones that don't always show up on a standardized test but matter every single day. Can your child get dressed independently? Can they ask for what they need? Can they handle a frustrating moment without falling apart? Can they ride the bus, count their change, show up to a job, and live with some measure of independence? These are the questions that keep caregivers up at night, and they're the questions this school is designed to answer — one clear, practical lesson at a time.
Every course here is written the way I wish someone had written resources for me when I was first navigating this journey. Plain language. Concrete steps. Real-world examples. No clinical jargon, no gatekeeping, no assumption that you already know what prompting hierarchies or sensory diets are. I'll explain everything, and I'll do it in a way that respects your intelligence and honors how hard you're already working.
The curriculum covers the full sweep of a learner's life — from morning hygiene routines and AAC communication systems, to emotional regulation strategies like Zones of Regulation, to functional math for shopping and budgeting, all the way to job interviews and apartment living skills. It's not a collection of isolated tips. It's a coherent, organized path from early skills to adult independence — one you can walk alongside your learner, at their pace, in your own home.
You don't have to have it all figured out before you start. You just have to show up — and so will I, in every lesson. Welcome to The Merchant Center. This is exactly the right place to be.
— Dr. Clarence Merchant II ThD PhD
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- 9 modules, 48 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed