"Tornado Bell" is Molly's new nick name.

"What job will Molly have when she graduates from high school?" is the question that we have not had an answer for.....until maybe now!! Brooke and I were able to go tour a job training site where Molly will be participating this year, starting at 4 hours a week and working up to 10 hours during the school day. Woodland Park Middle School hosts a community recycle program where people can bring their old computers, printers, TV's, etc and drop them off for a small fee. The high school kids, similar to Molly in their disabilities (though they all were verbal), take them apart, sort them, and then ship them off to the places that need recycled parts.

 When Molly arrives, she goes straight to her work station where she has a bin with her name on it. In the bin are her tools: pink gloves, protective eye wear, and her own screwdriver.

 Here is a motherboard and the end product of her efforts of demolition the day before. It is ready to be shipped off. They showed me this and I felt immediately grateful for all the smart people out there who put it together in the first place. Y'all have different brains than I do!

Step one: use screwdriver to unscrew the 4 corners. Her fine motor skills did ok. I was surprised!

Her pile from the day before.

Clearly marked boxes for the various recycled parts.

 Once you get the top off, there are lots of different little pieces that can be pulled off and recycled from batteries to screws to lots of things that this mom doesn't have a word for. Next time I go observe, I'll write them down! What was impressive was to see the other high school students who have been working there for a few years. They were very patient with Molly in training her. Shelbie had a computer in front of her and would model one slow step at a time what Molly needed to do on her computer in front of her. If Molly needed help (which she did almost every step of the way since this was only her second day), Shelbie would lean over and help her by muscling off a part. She remained calm and encouraging. Molly remained totally focused and intrigued. Brooke and I kept looking at each other with excitement as for the first time we saw the possibility for Molly in a work environment!

We were told that this type of job is perfect for kids with autism. They are very methodical, don't get bored with repetition (they actually thrive on it), they don't have to socially engage and talk with people and it's very visual (instead of auditory).

Donations

TV's that will be sent to another facility for recycle. There are hazardous products in TV's that our kids can't be exposed to.

Molly was focused. Molly was happy. Molly could DO this! Once she got the steps down, she'd be able to do this all by herself. They were even letting her use an electric screwdriver and she was managing that after a few attempts. Since Molly LOVES to sort like items and put them in their correct bins, she was thrilled by that step in the process after they had taken apart all that they were going to do that day. Then they put the various piles of like items into their bins. Her smile was huge and full of pride! We are starting to wonder if we need to lock up our computer at night for fear that she will start dismantling it while we sleep :)


You can imagine my glee when I got notes home yesterday that they nick named her "Tornado Bell" as she took apart 2 computers and 6 media drives. She has only worked there 6 days so far. Is Hurricane Bell next?