Publisher's Synopsis
This book is about the devastating affects in adulthood of having mainstreamed a Special Ed disabled individual into the normal world. There are many parents out there that see their kids doing well in Special Ed that aren't well enough off to be in the regular classroom setting that think if they drill them to death for hours on end for years on end that if one day they catch up with everybody else and make the same grades everyone else does in the normal world they will suddenly be able to do any and every job out there every one else is able to do. Unfortunately, this is what happened with me and when I got out in the work world I found out I still was not able to figure out the "hands on" tasks at the jobs I had I was expected to perform because I was absolutely clueless as "how to" perform them or what was going on, and could not sequence my tasks well enough or fast enough for my employers. It took me six months to learn what everyone else learned in a week and it made them upset. My education and even the "so called" social skills out there people think help make you make it in the work world were of no use to me because what works in the "world of school" does not work in the "world of job." No matter how well you educate a person, or how well they do in school, they still do not know how to "perform" the tasks of every day jobs that everyone else knows how to perform. Your social skills in the work world and your education are all for naught, if you don't have the "how to" to figure out how to do your job. You can be as smart as I'll get out, but like an ex-boss of mine said, "Your book smart, but your not street smart." Plus, with all my physical limitations brought on by Hyperthyroidism and an Atrial Septal Defect of the Heart and heart valve insufficiency problems I was not able to hold out without running out of energy and went around severely fatigued with high blood pressure, rapid pulse, stomach pain, faintness without passing out, sleeping 15 hours a day, overeating to build stamina to hold up to the pace and pressure of the manual labor jobs I had, and zoning out in the car on the way home. I finally forgot how to do my job and lost my job. I technically lost seven jobs. I was fired from three jobs and let go from four others. I quit 6 jobs. And, it was all because of my health and my cluelessness. So, if you have a smart Special Ed kid who you think might make it that has a cluelessness problem with tasking, job performance, and especially if they have physical limitations or heart defects. Don't push them into this. It will only blow up in their face. Plus they will be criticized by their peers, be unable to find a mate the opposite gender of them, and seen as a failure by all their regular classroom teachers and future employers. They may even have trouble being understood about their emotional needs by nurses if they appear like they are smarter than they really are just because they memorized a bunch of books. Please don't make this mistake with somebody else. Some people think I made it because I have talents. I am on disability because I cannot hold down a job and I can't make enough to live on off my talents so no I did not make it. I just appear like I did. I would have been better off if I would have been left in Special Ed. I was much happier there and much more well understood and able to get all my needs met.
