How can you connect this new skill to the student’s priorities? How can you assure ownership by making the development of this skill the student’s goal rather than just your goal for the student?
Your list of strengths vs. teachable jobs may prove helpful in priming the student. Create a visual support (graphic organizer, list, etc.) that shows what the student will do in the job. You may want to provide a social narrative that ties these skills and the larger job to his motivation: money, job experience that helps him get a better job, external reinforcers that you set up as a result of completing the shift, etc.
Unloading the truck may not be the student’s favorite task in the retail setting. You can provide a graphic organizer that shows all the job responsibilities so that the student sees this as an important skill that is related to other activities that are more motivating. He may need a social narrative to connect unloading the truck to other aspects of the work that are more motivating.
**Consider that the priming process is an ongoing process. Initially a student may be interested in retail operations. However, as a result of specific job experience, volunteer or other exposure, the student’s preferences and opinions may change. Provide opportunities for self-assessment during and after the job experience. In this way you can support the student’s improved understanding of his job preferences as a result of experience. Below are the self-assessments and instructor assessment that align with this intervention topic:
Retail Operations and Marketing- Retail Sales Interests
Interspersal is a proven technique involving the presentation of familiar, higher success tasks with the new, more challenging task. When it is appropriate, are you varying the activities to maintain the student’s confidence and focus?
You may have noticed that interspersal is a central focus in successful job matching. We intentionally encourage you to find a job with about 80% of job tasks within the ability of the student so that you are teaching only a small percentage. This is natural interspersal. The student has a variety of tasks that are not stressful and within his independent capacity while your instructional focus targets a few specific job steps or skills.
Before the student encounters a situation where he will need to perform this skill, how do you help the student prepare? How do you orient the student to the upcoming situation? How do you orient him to the materials he will use?
Prior to going to the job, a map or graphic organizer of the various tasks the student will perform may serve to reduce stress by visually clarifying all the aspects of the job. Even if the student does not show stress, knowing what you face each day is necessary to quality of life. How are you preparing the student to know what he will do?
The student will need a work schedule that prepares him for work expectations. He may also need a to-do list within specific work spaces to organize his performance. Generally, your visual supports support orientation and preparation for skill performance.
With regard to the task of processing orders for shipping, priming the student by familiarizing him with the instructions for ‘filling an order,’ with the steps to document materials ordered and shipped in a specific computer program, and with packing materials he will use for boxing orders, can reduce prompting and confusion while in the job. Ensure that the student has time to review the schedule, as well as any task list (to-do list) that he will use at work.
From a soft skills perspective, does he need to go to the site prior to working to get familiar with where his belongings will go, where he will take a break, when he will take a break, and where all the work materials are stored? Giving the student a chance to orient to the site and identify where everything goes can reduce anxiety and can prepare the student to more comfortably ‘jump into’ job responsibilities on his first day.