Stephanie
Stephanie is a twenty-year-old student with a mild cognitive disability. Stephanie
will graduate from public school education in less than six months. She is a quiet
young woman who works diligently without much interaction with others. Stephanie
will engage in conversation with her family and friends at school, but she is rather
quiet at work. She currently lives with her mother, father, and younger brother
but would like to live with her older sister in a few years. Stephanie likes to
go to the mall with her girlfriends, and she was on the dance club at her high school.
For the past few years, Stephanie has worked at a pretzel shop in the mall for approximately
twenty hours each week. She was responsible for all steps in making the pretzels,
including preparing the dough, shaping the pretzels, baking the pretzels, and placing
them in the glass display case.
Stephanie enjoyed her job at the pretzel shop, but she would prefer to work in a
restaurant. She thinks that a downtown restaurant would be an exciting place to
work, but right now she doesn’t have the skills necessary to be a cook or prep chef.
Stephanie needs to acquire new skills to reach her goal of working in a downtown
restaurant. Stephanie expressed a desire to apply for jobs at local chain restaurants
like the Olive Garden and Applebee’s to gain experience in a restaurant setting.
Also, her mother and father have taken her to and from her summer job, but after
graduation, she will work all year round. Her parents will not be able to transport
her regularly to and from work every day. She will need to make other transportation
plans, but she never taken a public bus on her own.
Stephanie’s parents would like some strategies to help Stephanie get ready for work
in the mornings after they leave the house for work. They expressed concern that
she will forget something such as her employee identification, her cell phone for
emergencies, her house keys, or her money. Also, Stephanie reads at a third grade
level, so many times she is unable to read signs that she sees in unfamiliar places.
She also has problems reading the time on analog clocks, which are ubiquitous in
food service environments.
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.
