Practice Examples

  Example #3

You are the mentor for Barb. Barb is a high school student. She loves all kinds of music. She likes to paint. She has cerebral palsy and uses an AAC system. Barb writes you this E-mail message:

"It takes me so long to type my assignments. I can never finish all of my homework."

Which of these answers would be the best one for you to send if you were Barb’s mentor?

	"Barb, if you are going to make it through high school and get a good education, you are going to have to work harder."
	"Barb, the problem is the AAC system you are using. You need to use a better system that will let you type faster. I’ll send you the address of the company that makes my system so you can get one."
	"I know exactly what you mean. When I was in high school, I thought that I would drown in all the work that I had. I just tried to hang in until the holidays came and then I’d get a break. Don’t worry about it. You’ll get through this. I did."
	"Barb, sounds rough. Tell me a bit more about what’s going on. What types of assignments do you have? How long does it take you to do them? Let’s try to brainstorm and think of some solutions to this problem. We can talk about what is good and what is bad about the different plans. Then you can decide which is the best one."

This research is supported by Grant #H133G8004 from The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research and no official endorsement should be inferred.