Finding a Special Job for a Special Kid

My son starts a new job tomorrow.

No, he's not dropping out of school and hitting the fast-food circuit. We've been looking for a little job he could do around school, to give him a sort of place in the place, and today, he got an offer he couldn't refuse.

His middle school uses "student service workers" to do a wide range of tasks around the building, and I'd asked his teacher if maybe they could design some little duty for him. He didn't get to be a "safety patrol" in his elementary school, because at that time I couldn't see him standing out at a crosswalk by himself directing children. Still can't. But some service work around his school, this eighth-grade year? Surely there was something.

His teacher had been asking around, but nothing seemed to offer the right degree of supervision. Sitting outside the guidance office waiting for errands? No. Sorting mail in the office while the secretaries are at lunch? No. Working the red-hot laminating machine in the library? Goodness, no.

I thought I'd found a possibility when the librarian -- no, wait, we're supposed to call them media specialists now -- needed someone to bring in bundles of newspapers from in front of the school. Some good heavy lifting, proprioceptive work first thing in the morning seemed like a do-able idea. When I had him try picking one up this morning, just to see, the aide who watches the door said that the custodians were going to do that. And when she heard that we had thought of it as a job for my guy, she said, "I'll give him a job."

So starting tomorrow, he's reporting to this aide who's known him for years to do door duty. She's a little more confident than I am that he will be more of a help than a hassle, but it's a job, and he'll have supervision, and it's surely worth a try. That means I'll have to start getting the boy, and his mom, up quite a bit earlier in the morning, since his job starts about fifteen minutes before his ordinary arrival time. Might as well get used to the way of the workforce, buddy.

I'll let you know how this turns out as we go along, but I thought I'd mention it now because, if you're looking for some little duty for your own child, it pays to really ask around. The aide kept saying to me, "Why didn't you ask me sooner?" and the answer was, it honestly never occurred to me. Employment can come from unexpected places.