One month into Molly's "work" life. I'll give it an A so far.

"So how is it going for Molly?" is the question I have heard a lot this last month since she has started into her post high school life. And to be honest, I think that it's going well but like everything in Molly's life, I can't know for sure since she can't tell me.

So we rely heavily on how she is acting before and after "work" and the notes or texts home from other adults in her life. She happily runs to the bus in the morning and she happily gets off the bus in the afternoon. What happens between 8:30 am and 2:30 pm is often a mystery to me. So the smile is reasurring.

I spent a couple hours last week following Molly to one of her jobs where she and the others serve lunch at senior living building. I wanted to take pictures of her various activities so that I can create "pages" on her iPad so that she can talk about her day, who she has interacted with, and where she went when she returns home. Because right now all I can ask is "How was your day? Was it good: Yes or No?" And she'll always say "Yes". Such a positive young lady... or does she just want me off of her back like her brother does?

Foundations for Successful Living (FSL) is a local non profit that partners with other non profits to provide job training for adults with disabilities. About half of the adults served are "transition" kids like Molly: those between 18-21 years old who have graduated from high school but are still covered by state services. The rest are over 21 years old and are needing daytime activities that allow them to get out into the community, have a sense of purpose, but are not being paid for the work that they do (the families are still paying to have their kids in these programs).

FSL partners with the ARC where Molly goes and sorts clothes and takes empty hangers off the racks. She has served lunch at Seeds; the downtown restaurant where folks pay what they can or wash dishes in exchange for food. She has filled boxes at Christmas Unlimited. Not exactly sure what that is so I'll follow her there next week and get back to you. They are always looking for other partnerships that are willing to work with our kids to teach them job skills and give them something to do.

I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with the seniors at Pikes Peak Towers and how great they were with Molly and her crew of three others.

First, Molly had to get the table numbers and put them on the tables. Not the fastest process you've ever seen as she went back to the main table to get a new number between each.and.every.table. But hey, they were there with plenty of time to spare before the diners arrived so it's all good.

Then they wiped down the salt and pepper shakers and put them on each table. One of the verbal girls noticed that a few shakers were empty and went to the main closet and got new ones. I know that might not sound like a lot to you but it was impressive to me as I think Molly would have just put the empty shaker on the table. What I appreciated about the elderly ladies that oversee the program and live in the building is that they were very patient and did not enable our kids. They allowed them to do the work with a few verbal prompts and encouragement. They would say "What comes next?" instead of telling them what came next. It is the same routine each time which is exactly what our kids like and need.

Then they rolled silverware. That was the hardest for my girl. They had a cheat sheet that enabled her to look at the picture to see what folds happened first, second and third but she had to be prompted each and every time. Hopefully she will pick that up soon on her own. Her forte is bussing tables and cleaning up. As you know, she LOVES that!

I was told that the seniors love her though one (crotchety) lady was a little annoyed by Molly's constant verbal stem. It's an "Aaaahhhhhh" kind of sound. Not very loud but very constant. I'll video her soon and post so that you can hear her. I mostly don't notice it anymore except for the times that it makes me want to scream "BE quiet!". So I told them that we use (and they can too) the visual prompt of the pointer finger to the lips in the "Shhhhh" motion and she quiets down. At least for a few seconds. And maybe the lady would be more understanding if she knew that that is a way that Molly self soothes or drowns out other noise if she is feeling tense? Or better yet can we suggest that Mrs Empathy take out her hearing aides one day a week during lunch? I know, I know....I need to take MY empathy pill, don't I?

Once the tables were set and ready, the kids sat down and played UNO for a while until the folks came down for lunch. I took off then but loved getting a sense of one of the areas where Molly participates during the week.

After the first week, the new staff caught onto my (desperate) need for daily texts to hear what Molly did that day and started filling me in.

Here is a good one: "Molly went with a small group to Crossfire where we sorted food for a food shelter. Molly spent the entire time with another client and did AWESOME. She didn't need to be reminded to stay on task at all. She seemed to enjoy the entire experience."

The other 2 days at FSL she works on life skills: cooking, shopping, money management (she can't even add so I'm not sure how that is going?), they go to the YMCA to exercise, and have talked about what to do in an emergency, etc.

So that's 3 days out of her week that are fun, productive, interesting, and busy. The other two days she gets to recycle (her passion) and have speech therapy. Will fill you in on those in a future blog.