Vocational Work Centers
My first year teaching vocational training to students with significant disabilities including Autism, it was a struggle to find things that met the needs of a range of students… some who were really basic in their skill set to students who may legitimately have a job soon and needed help transitioning with independence. The variety of skills and needs made putting together activities and job training that was meaningful, novel, and built up those underlying soft skills employers really want a challenge. If you are like I was, then even a little guidance and a place to start could make a big difference and help you to work smarter, not harder.
What to Use
When I started, I focused on the task boxes I inherited in my classroom. I had a hand me down set of the Hands on Tasks my district had purchased a few years earlier. Unfortunately, since I was the third teacher to work with the boxes, most of them were missing pieces and many of my students had been working with them for the 4 years since they were purchased.
There was not budget money to have all the sets replaced and the company did not sell replacement parts separately. So, I had to come up with some task boxes that would be novel to my students and easy to stock. I created the DIY Dollar Store Task Boxes and started from there. The boxes were easy to make and the visuals that supported each step meant I could get students to some level of independence quicker. I loved that they touched on sorting tasks, assembly tasks, and order fulfillment tasks since those targets seems to meet needs best.
I did, however, have some students who were at a higher level or had a negative history with task boxes and needed something more. I created the Vending Machine Vocational Bundle just for that. Because it is high interest, it was well received and, since there were several subgroups, my higher students could move through a little faster and feel like it was still novel and new.
Finally, I set up a coffee cart to support all my students as they worked on vocational and social skills. Every student supported the cart. My highly structured students helped to stock it in the classroom. My more independent students ran orders to classrooms/staff. My middle of the road students went out as a team to sell to the administrative offices and counselors with an aide. Between all three ways to help, everyone had hands on the coffee cart and helped to make money for our program.
Getting Data
It may seem hard to get data on this type of system when students are doing all different things, but it was not too bad. I operated two types of data collection when I worked the task boxes, work tasks, and coffee cart all at the same time; I wanted data on task completion and also wanted to measure a student’s soft skills.
You will probably have your own measurements to get as students work, but just remember, task completion alone is not enough to say you are gathering quality data. Try measuring things like attention to detail, level of independence, positive attitude, or social interactions. Although these measures are more subjective, it is important to be able to address skill deficits and that starts with identifying them.
We also got on uniforms for vocational class, aprons for coffee cart with name tags and name tags with smocks for classroom based activities, and I took data on their ability to dress for class independently.
Setting Up Successfully
Like I mentioned, in the very beginning my students used the old task boxes as I came up with a better option. Once I had my new DIY task boxes set up, all the students worked on those until I could get the other things set up. With all the materials in place, my day looked a little like this:
The details of the coffee cart job assignments and how to set up a coffee cart complete with forms, ledger, signs and job descriptions can be found here.
Once the daily schedule was in place and students had a groove, I was able to target certain groups for certain tasks to help develop more independence, learn a new skill to move to a different group or prepare for another job title. I’d like to think all the students were working on authentic skill development in an area of need and when people came through the class, they noted how inclusive and impressive the vocational training was. I loved to hear that because it started as a little bit of a mess.
Your Steps to Implementation
I started slowly and that worked out okay… but if you are an ‘all-in’ kinda person, you can get this vocational system up and running in under a week. It will take some work, but it is doable.
Start by setting up your classroom task boxes. If you don’t have some, then you can pick up the set I used from my store.
Then get some vocational tasks prepped. Get the Vending Machine Bundle here and get those going either way… even if you don’t have a great set of task boxes. They will work for most students as a great start point. I suggest getting some command strips to set up the stocking destination and putting a couple of different stations in the room (on filing cabinets, the side of a bookshelf, or on the walls) to make some separate work spaces.
Next, get your campus to approve you getting a snack cart or coffee cart started. If you have no instructional funds to buy the other items on this list, then get going with this first to bring in some money that you can then use to buy the rest. You can see a Coffee Cart Setup Shopping List here for some basics to order to get started.
Finally, set up some kind of rotation to get everyone working at once. You can’t work as one big posse, and it doesn’t support realistic work training anyway, so get everyone into smaller groups and start working!
Remember, you rock! Stay Strong and Teach On!
