Jodi
Jodi is a sixteen-year-old student with mild cognitive disabilities who is pursuing
an occupational diploma. She is currently in her third year of high school, but
she plans to go to school until she is 21 years old. She is completing a specialized
course of study that includes both applied academics and vocational preparation
to receive a high school diploma. Jodi lives at home with her mother, who is a real
estate agent. Jodi’s mother is supportive of her plans, and has a special interest
in improving Jodi’s ability to read. Jodi likes to look at magazines, store advertisements,
and newspapers. Sometimes she can decode the words in them. She has never had an
opportunity to budget her money although she identifies all bills and coins. She
can also make change and pay for items in simulated and community experiences.
After high school, Jodi wants to go to the community college and work at a store
like Target running the register or stockings items on the shelves. This year, she
worked at Wal-mart during school hours, and did well. There, she mostly stocked
shelves, but a few days she ran the register with her job coach nearby to assist
when needed. She can make change independently, but she got confused and nervous
when customers asked her questions she couldn’t answer. Jodi will need to get herself
to work each afternoon, but her mom will be able to pick her up. Neither Jodi nor
her mother has ever taken a city bus to get anywhere. Furthermore, her mother is
scared of the idea of her talkative daughter sitting on the bus with strangers.
Jodi’s mother believes that she would be happy in a retail position, but she would
like Jodi to get to explore other jobs within the retail environment, such as janitorial
tasks, organizational tasks, and jobs within the store café. Jodi expressed that
any of those jobs would be fine, as long as she could earn money. However, her special
education teacher has concerns that Jodi’s hygiene skills are not adequate for a
food service environment. She frequently touches her hair and face during the day,
although she always appears clean. At her most recent vocational experience, Jodi’s
site supervisor was pleased with her work ethic but indicated that he had to provide
consistent prompting to Jodi about excessive talking when she should have been working.
He expressed concern that this could ultimately cause her to lose a job in the future,
because as her talking increased, her productivity decreased.
This document was produced under U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special
Education Programs Grant No. H326J050004. Marlene Simon-Burroughs served as the
project officer. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions
or polices of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department
of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this
publication is intended or should be inferred. This product is public domain. Authorization
to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this
publication is not necessary, the citation should be: National Secondary Transition
Technical Assistance Center (2007) Indicator 13 Training Materials, Charlotte, NC,
NSTTAC.
