A young man with autism, ambulatory, no functional speech, great vision, and fine motor skills.
This student just graduated from high school. He does not use external tools to help him communicate. Those who know him best understand his gestures and body language. He otherwise meets most of his needs by helping himself. He is seeking employment at a restaurant that serves pizza buffet-style. He will need to communicate during an interview and following that will need a tool(s) to help him remember sequences for restocking ingredients at the buffet as well as greet customers.
Possible Recommendations:
Because this young man does not already have an external tool he uses, we will want to provide him with a way to ask and answer questions during an interview. The tool, ideally, would provide verbal prompts that he can follow while completing work tasks and provide a way for him to greet customers. Features of a tool(s) that may meet his needs include systems/devices that are durable, portable, can be accessed through touch, and – ideally – have speech output. Consider that with a little modification, one tool may meet all this employee’s needs or that he may prefer different tools for different outcomes. No-low-tech reminders at each station or a device with speech output, so he can listen to prompts while completing a task. Consider also that if one tool does one thing very well, the employee might need more than one at each station he works. Symbol Overlay Maker is a free app that provides a symbol library and templates to create no-, low-, and light-tech reminders.
Devices to Try:
Goals and Outcomes:
Employee will ask and answer questions during a job interview. He will also complete steps to work tasks and greet customers. Some suggested goals to track outcomes include counting the number of times the employee correctly completes the steps of a task and counting the number of times he greets customers.
See the attached HAAT Model form to see how to match the employee to needed AT.
Case Study Forms – HAAT Model
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