Karen & Jack's Second Meeting
8/13/98
Jack - Hi Karen, come on in. I talked to Martha at Medallion about your voc eval and she said you did great. Did you enjoy it?
Karen - Yes, it was kind of fun. And I think I know what I want to do - be a Lab Technician.
Jack - That's what Martha had told me, too. And I've been looking over the results of the assessment and I think that could be a good choice for you. But what happened to being a book keeper?
Karen - Well I don't know... Martha said there were several things that I could try, like court reporting and book keeping and lab technician. I got to thinking about working in a hospital lab, but Martha said there are lots of other kinds of labs, like environmental labs, pollution control labs, chemical labs, and those might be easier for me to do.
Also, Ellen, the clerical teacher. We didn't get along. She kept snapping at me when I would forget things, but she wouldn't let me look them up in my memory book. And that made me mad. But Tom - who teaches the Lab Technician skills - we got a long great. He helped me work at remembering things and didn't get frustrated. So that was better.
Also, he said that, working in a lab, there wouldn't be so much frustration of having to deal with lots of people as there might be in clerical work. It would be a more quiet kind of job, so I could focus better and not get so frustrated maybe. And I wouldn't be under pressure for time so much, so I could use my memory book better.
Jack - Well those sound like good reasons. Why don't we go over the results of the evaluation a little, just to think it through a little. Now, on the Test of Adult Basic Education, which is a bunch of achievement tests, and that can show us something about your abilities in different subjects. And this shows you are pretty strong in reading, language and spelling, but your math scores at about the 7th grade level - so you may need to work on the math a little.
Karen - Yes, math kind of gives me trouble sometimes. I get confused on it.
Jack - The fact that you keep your own checkbook means you can do the math, but you may need a little more training in that area. Now you showed some weakness on manual dexterity and finger dexterity, which tells me that some aspects of clerical work, like typing, might be a problem.
Karen - Yeah, I don't type very well.
Jack - Yeah, I noticed that they worked with you on typing but didn't ever test you on it. So I guess that didn't go well. But that is not a real problem for lab work. In fact, your lab instructor was very impressed with your determination and potential. He thinks you will do very well in it.
Let me go over some of the details of the lab technician training. First of all, this course is 25 weeks long, so you are going to be studying there for about six months. When you get done, there is a list of about eight kinds of jobs here that you will be qualified to do. It lists jobs like chemical analysis, air analysis, pollution control, and food service quality control. So you can have lots of options to find work. But again, it is going to take six months of training.
Most of the training will be on a one-to-one or small group level. There will be some textbook readings and some group demonstrations. This is probably similar to what you did during the evaluation, right?
Karen - It sounds like it.
Jack - Do you have any questions about the training?
Karen - I don't think so.
Jack - OK, well let's plan to enroll you in the class beginning in September - that's about one month from today. Will that be enough time to get things settled in Clayton and move up here?
Karen - Yes. Will I need to find an apartment or... I mean, my mom and Martha and I talked about whether I should stay at Medallion or not. And I wasn't sure which I should do.
Jack - Well, you can do which ever you want. But, since you don't drive, if you get an apartment away from Medallion, we will have to work out a way for you to get there every day. I'd say the simplest thing is for you to stay there.
Karen - OK but I don't want to be stuck there on the weekends, like I sometimes was during the assessment. I mean, for instance, one weekend Sara and I wanted to go to a movie and we couldn't find a way to go, so we just stayed at the dorm and watched TV, which wasn't as much fun. I didn't like that. If I had an apartment, there might be more things to do.
Jack - I tell you what, why don't we budget in some transportation money for you for weekends and things? Since this is sort of a personal expense, could we maybe split the cost between what you pay for and what VR pays for? Let's say we budget for you to go home to Clayton... 10 times during the six months, and figure that will run about $50 each. Then we can add a little money for town travel, and figure about $600 total. So VR would provide half of that - about $300. Or about $50 a month for you to spend just on transportation, and you cover anything over that. Will that work?
Karen - Sure. I've got some money saved up that my folks gave me, that I use sometimes, so I could do that.
Jack - Good. Then I will write that into the Cost Worksheet when we get done. Now, last time we confirmed that your monthly income was below the VR minimum, so you are financially eligible, which means we can have VR pay for all your tuition and books, and for your room and board. Are there any medical expenses we need to cover? You have a prescription for your seizure disorder, don't you?
Karen - Uh-huh, I take Tegretol every day.
Jack - Well, why don't we budget some daily personal maintenance money for you, say $10 a day, which should give you about $300 a month. VR can provide most of that, say $7 a day. And then you can pay for any medications out of that, plus any other incidentals you need, like clothes, aspirin, snacks - anything beyond the basics Medallion will supply. Will that work?
Karen - Sure. So that will come to me?
Jack - Yep. And you've already been keeping your own salary and checkbook, so this should work the same way. Of course, if there's any problem, you can just let me know.
Karen - Sure. Do I need to sign anything for that? I remember, with Jackie, there were several things I had to sign.
Jack - There are always things to sign, unfortunately. The main one for now is the IWRP. Let me fill out the basic stuff on here real quickly. OK... Now, I need you to read over this section on Client Participation, add any comments you want and sign here.
Karen - OK.
Jack - Of course, if anything changes on the expenses we fill in here, we can make amendments later on to cover other services. But this will get us started.
Let's see, rather than set up a formal review meeting while you are in the training, why don't you just call in, or write, once a month to let me know how things are going. That way I can be sure you aren't having trouble or needing anything, but we don't need to disrupt your time there any more than necessary. Will that work?
Karen - Um sure. I'd better write some of this down.
Jack - Sure. Let's just review it all for you. We have the IWRP developed, and the Cost Worksheet, for you to go to Medallion for training for Lab Technician. VR will pay for that and give you some money for personal use. You will check back with me by phone or letter once a month to let me know how things are going. And if there is anything else that comes up, we will take care of it then.
I think we've got a good plan here. But I want to make sure you feel comfortable with it. Are you ready to spend six months at Medallion, like we've laid out here?
Karen - Yes. I'm kind of excited about it. Tom is a good teacher, and I think being in the training program will be a lot of fun. Everyone was very nice to me during the testing, so I'm not worried about going back.
Jack - Good! Well, you keep thinking about it, and if there is anything you think of that we have not covered, give me a call here, OK?
Karen - OK
Jack - Otherwise, I will expect to hear from you every month starting in October.
Karen - OK. Good bye.
Name of Client: Karen Spencer
Address: 408 Box St., Clayton, MO
Person(s) contacted: Jack Greene
Contact made: [] Home [X] Office [] Phone [X] Personal [] Other
Date: 8/13/98
Karen came in for her scheduled appointment to discuss her training as an environmental lab tech at Medallion.
Her academic scores in Reading, Language and Spelling indicate functioning primarily between 9th grade and post high school levels.
All in all, it was determined that Karen would do well taking the Environmental Laboratory Technician training followed by job placement assistance at Medallion.
It was also determined that Vocational Rehabilitation would provide her with her tuition and books, residence expense at Medallion and some weekend transportation costs. Karen was in complete agreement with this plan and signed the IWRP and client responsibility sheets today while in this office. Karen seems quite excited about the prospect of her training.
Complete the paperwork for this plan and set the start date after discussing it with Martha Little at Medallion Enterprises.
Signature: Jack Greene
Date: 8/13/98
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