Paulo
Paulo is an eighteen-year-old student with a mild cognitive disability and autism.
According to his IEP, he is identified as a student with Autism. His verbal skills
have dramatically increased in the past six years, although he still communicates
through adapted sign language, gestures, words, and vocalizations that his family
and teachers understand. Paulo’s family has been actively involved in Paulo’s education,
and they have been equally as involved in the transition planning process. Paulo
lives at home with his mother and father, his older brother, and his younger sister.
His mother and father immigrated to the United States from Brazil twenty-two years
ago. All of the children were born in the United States and they speak both English
and Portuguese fluently. Residentially, Paulo will live with his parents for at
least the next ten years. When they are no longer able to care for him, he will
live with one of his siblings, most likely his sister. Paulo’s independent living
skills are important to his family. In fact, at times his teachers were concerned
that Paulo did too much housework in comparison to his siblings because sometimes
he would arrive at school smelling of bleach and appear tired. When confronted casually
about this, his parents explained that work was good for him and that he enjoyed
it.
Paulo was provided with the services of a sign language interpreter in elementary
and middle school and provided with training in sign language. His IEP team, including
his parents, agreed that he was not benefiting from the services. The IEP team discontinued
the services, as they believed that he could effectively communicate with others
using adapted sign language, some words, gestures, and vocalizations. Receptively,
Paulo can independently take directions and answer questions that require a yes
or no response in both English and Portuguese. He also uses the adapted signs and
gestures for the names of activities he likes and to express basic wants and needs.
Paulo loves watch movies in his house with his sister. He also enjoys outdoor activities
such as raking leaves in the yard and sweeping the patio. His older brother played
soccer in high school and now plays in college. Paulo can run fast, and has picked
up some soccer skills from his brother’s lessons like shooting the ball and passing
to a teammate. He has few opportunities for fun outside of the family home, and
his parents are open to him having leisure activities as long as he gets his chores
done at home.
At school, Paulo loved going to Wegman’s to job shadow a man who collected the carts
and bagged groceries. Even though Paulo was only supposed to watch the job, the
employee he was shadowing was willing to share his work, and Paulo did a good job
with collecting the carts. He needs more training to bag groceries. Also, he was
unresponsive to the man’s corrective feedback. Paulo kept saying to himself “Good
job, Paulo” to himself after he packed each bag, even though the employee tried
to show him a better way to pack the bags. He apparently enjoyed the experience,
because Paulo would request that his teacher take him to Wegmans’ even on days that
it was not scheduled by signing “Me, work, store, please” over and over. Paulo is
quiet and well-mannered. The store manager was impressed with his work ethic and
is interested in having Paulo work part-time after he graduates.
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.
