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A group of Pinellas Park High special education students are getting job training in a school partnership with Largo Medical Center.
By KRISTINE MILLEN
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 21, 2000
LARGO -- It's touted as a job-skills training program for high school students with special needs. But that isn't what impresses 18-year-old Norman Lamy, who spends 11/2 hours each day working alongside employees at Largo Medical Center.
For the Pinellas Park High student with spina bifida who is paralyzed from the waist down, it's the taste of independence that gets him excited.
"I can do stuff by myself," said Lamy, who works in the hospital's engineering department sterilizing pillow speakers for patients and sorting papers. "Sometimes people don't think that I can do things by myself, but I can."
Independence is not an issue for 16-year-old Shannon Nater who has achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. At 3 feet 10, Nater is more concerned about showing people what her capabilities are.
"There are a lot of ignorant people out there who don't think I can do something because of my size," she said. "You can't give up. If I think I can do something, I do it."
Nater and Lamy are two of the 17 Pinellas Park High special education teens who participate in the work program. Since the partnership between Largo Medical Center and the school was formed four years ago, 60 students have received job-skills training at the facility.
Funding for the program, which includes transportation, uniforms and curriculum, is provided by the district. Largo Medical Center provides the training.
"There are a lot of obstacles to employment for these students," said special education teacher Claudia Leonardi, who supervises the program. "What we are doing is giving them very concrete employment skills. When they finish up, they know exactly what responsibilities they need to have when they enter the world of work."
The program is open to all of the school's exceptional education students, but only those with a positive disciplinary record and good attendance will be accepted.
Students are bused to the hospital each school morning where they train with employees from several departments including housekeeping, dietary and the print shop.
Before heading into the hospital at the beginning of the school year, students go through a weeklong, in-school orientation with Leonardi. They learn the job safety and emergency requirements of the hospital and how to fill out an application and interview for a job.
Mock interview sessions with Leonardi acting as an employer are videotaped and used to fine-tune their skills.
To test their newly acquired abilities, the teens each go through an interview with personnel from the hospital who evaluate their performance. The one-on-one meeting also helps determine department assignments, which change each grading period.
Besides being trained for specific job tasks, students learn basic job responsibilities, Leonardi said.
The prospective employees learn the importance of being on time, how to work a job through to completion, when breaks are allowed and uniform maintenance. They also are taught interpersonal skills such as looking people in the eyes when they talk, shaking hands, standing up when an adult enters the room and to say "excuse me" when they walk in front of someone.
"These are all the things you learn when you have your first job," Leonard said. "They now know what to expect. The whole point is for them to be independent enough to walk into a business, get an application, fill it out and ask when they can come for an interview."
Leonardi accompanies the teens to the hospital each day, but it is hospital employees who do the actual training.
"It is not a burden to train these kids," said Del Moore, transcription supervisor, who has been working with Nater. "They are such a help. They are very smart, they catch on real quick. They can just jump in and do it. But I really think I've learned more from Shannon than she has from me."
The students may get more individual attention during training; however, their expectations are the same as for any other employee.
"I never looked at her as having a handicap at all," Moore said. "I treat her just like anyone else. She's here to do a job and learn, and I expect her to do that."
Nater's mother, Martha, is thrilled with the training her daughter is receiving, but it's the increased confidence she sees that pleases her the most.
"It wasn't until she went into the program that she felt comfortable enough to go into places and get applications," Mrs. Nater said.
Her daughter got her first job as a telemarketer two months after entering the program. She didn't enjoy that type of work, said Mrs. Nater, but had the courage to march into other businesses and apply for a different kind of job.
Last month she was hired by Kmart as a cashier.
"Sometimes kids with learning problems feel there is nothing out there for them," she said. "I'm convinced that this program gave her the self-confidence to see that she can go into the work world and do just as good of a job as anyone else."