Carley is a young woman who had participated in a few school and community-based work explorations prior to looking for a paid job. Based on these experiences and the information gathered during the Discovery Process, we learned that Carley’s contributions included: the ability to memorize the lay out of large stores including where items in various departments are housed; meticulously returning items to their appropriate spots; recognizing when stock was out of place and asking for help when she needs it. Carley is a dedicated worker; her attendance is good and she is a reliable employee. Carley also is friendly and outgoing and works well and collaboratively with many coworkers and customers. Some of the job tasks that she can perform for an employer include: returning items to the appropriate shelves, facing shelves, performing quality checks to ensure that displays in the store are neat and accurate, scanning merchandise for price checks or inventory and assisting customers to locate desired items. Carley needs an environment that is accessible to accommodate her electric wheelchair. If she is to return or handle merchandise it must be light, small and easy to grasp. When interacting with coworkers, supervisors or customers she needs time to respond using her Delta talker. It is best for her to have a structured routine of familiar job tasks which she knows that she can physically perform, however, new tasks can be introduced to the routine. Carley will do best when the supervisor takes time to assist her to figure out how she may perform pieces of the task differently if needed due to some physical limitations.

Wal-Mart, an employer in Carley’s town needed someone who could stock merchandise that customers had returned to store. They valued having an employee who returns items to the correct place rather than replacing the merchandise incorrectly. A strong work ethic, positive attitude and good attendance were desired employee traits. Wal-Mart hired Carley after recognizing that she could make a valuable contribution to their work place. The school and Carley’s mom performed the job development for Carley. Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation provided funding for the job coach during the summer when Carley was not in school. The school used their paraprofessional to job coach once school began again. Carley was working at Wal-Mart without the support of a job coach upon graduation. She utilized her Personal Care Attendant funds to pay for some minimal assistance that she still required at the job. Carley eventually chose to resign from her job (as many of us do with our first jobs) after working there for well over a year.

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