You can do a lot at home to prepare your child for his or her first job. Here are six tips to help teens with learning and thinking differences walk to work feeling confident and capable receptive language.
- Cultivate communication.
Teens with social skills issues can benefit greatly from role-playing at home. Your child can practice business basics like shaking hands, making eye contact, and asking questions while pretending to be a customer, coworker, or supervisor. Discuss what personal information is (and is not) appropriate to share. (For example, it is okay for a teenager to talk about what she did last weekend, but not about the medications she takes.) Other ideas: mock job interviews, teach basic phone etiquette, and have him practice asking for help or accommodations.
- Promote practical skills.
Your home can be a true learning laboratory. If her child has math problems, she can organize the money in her wallet and work to make change. If your child has trouble reading or writing, she can practice writing phone messages. Learning to work in the kitchen can increase organizational skills, not to mention help your child find a food service position. If your child is leaning toward an office position, encourage him to hone her computer skills and help him with the presentation.
- Use chores to teach.
Chores help children learn responsibility and basic skills without judgment or risk. To develop organizational skills, put your child in charge of sorting the family mail and tidying up the TV room. Help him make a schedule and let him practice keeping it on track. If your child has trouble following instructions, she can use her phone to record a video of how to do multi-step tasks, like ironing shirts or bathing the family pet.
- Teach punctuality.
Punctuality is important to employers. Does your teen have problems that cause them to lose track of time? Help him develop strategies that will make it easier for him to be punctual. Encourage him to wear a watch and use the alerts and calendar features on his cell phone (if he has one). Be firm about coming when he is expected to, and praise him when he does.
- Practice following the instructions.
At work, supervisors may list multiple tasks at once. This can be challenging for teens with executive functioning issues*. Practice at home by giving your teen to-do lists. Then help him develop strategies to remember them. For example, if memorizing is a problem, you can practice taking notes on a small pad or recording the list on your phone. You can also make some instructions unclear, so your teen feels comfortable asking questions to clarify what she wants.
- Help him volunteer.
Volunteering provides the opportunity for your teen to gain hands-on experience. Since there is no pay, those who bring it on board are more likely to be supportive and patient. If your teen can’t find a position on her own, use her personal network to help her find opportunities. Maybe a relative needs help in her store or her health club might need someone to answer the phones. Through experience, your child will learn that he has the ability to work on his own.