What communication scripts might you use to support practice during instruction, and success in these settings? Are these complete scripts or just key words to support initiation?
A nursery retail setting may provide the physical activity of lifting and moving in multiple tasks. It may provide the clarity of organizing plants for display. However, for some, customer questions can pose a serious hazard to sustained employment. Shifting attention from a task to answer a customer question can cause agitation. Then there is the need to act as if ‘the customer is always right’ and to act politely at all times. There is also the need to give complete yet clear information to the customer in answer to her question. Knowing how much or how little to say, watching for non-verbal cues of satisfaction and returning to work can pose challenges.
For some, it may be worthwhile to discuss an adaptation that will be within the student’s capacity while assuring positive customer relations for the management. It may be appropriate to approach the supervisor with the idea of supplying the student with a script that allows him to redirect the question to someone who can help. Consider the script below and whether it would fit this student while not compromising the customer service of the retail setting.
For others, you may need to supply a script which allows the student to answer specific types of customer service questions within their knowledge level while using a comparable strategy of redirecting the questions that are not within their knowledge level:
It is possible that the student will need a script card or other cue to ask for help in the midst of certain jobs.
On the script card, does the student need additional picture or word cues to define his body position, facial expression, gestures, etc. during the use of the script? Is it appropriate to add cues for questions he can answer or cannot answer?
Scripts, such as those above, can support an individual in knowing what to say while extra visual adaptations can further support knowing how to say it. Adjusting tone, volume, and even body language occurs naturally and almost immediately for many of us as we transition from speaking with a coworker to answering a customer’s questions. Your voice changes when you answer the phone at work versus how you were speaking with a coworker only moments earlier. Using the View2Do program or other means, be sure to add icons, pictures, or even certain fonts and colored type to help indicate these cues that go beyond “what” to say.
For a student who struggles with showing a friendly smile to strangers, her script may have a single picture of her smiling at the top. Another alternative may be to place a “Smile!” note or icon in the margin or within the actual script for interacting with customers.
What additional visual clarity cues (e.g. color-coding, highlighting) might you add to the visual script to promote attention and comprehension for the student?
If the job has several predictable or expected situations, scripts such as this can be very beneficial. For a worker in a nursery, a posted script at the front register may provide the location of various items or plants with color-coded labels matching each aisle of the nursery. This script thus serves as a visual tool helping the employee know what to say, how to say it, and can also provide information to the customer with clear, visual means. In the following example, the employee has a list of items in the nursery that are color-coded with dots throughout the nursery, and is given a final statement for helping the customer find the desired items:
Are you arranging frequent practice opportunities with visual scripts to build independence and fluency through repetition?
It may be important to limit the number of interactions with customers by adapting environmental design to reduce likelihood of interaction. However, coaching the student to use his script in interactions will still be important. Think about how to design practice in using the script card and how to fade your prompts to the card as the student shows success in implementing the card. Consider if additional reinforcement should be added to the schedule for using the script card and following its directions.
In order to align this intervention topic area with the unique needs of the student, do you need to create scripts or scenarios in the View2do program?
