Luke began volunteering at a CRUK charity shop to gain valuable work experience in the retail sector. He quickly established himself in the role and was getting to the shop via a lift from college staff. Such was Luke’s progress that we felt he could also take on the extra task of travel training – with the end goal of him being able to independently take a bus from college to his place of work.
Luke embraced this challenge and was excited about the prospect of gaining an extra level of independence. Initially, Luke was supported by one of The Oaks’ job coaches, who travelled with him to assess his existing ability to crossroads safely, identify the correct bus stop, read the timetables, communicate to the driver, and make appropriate payment. They were also able to observe whether Luke could anticipate where he would need to alight the bus and whether he knew how to request for the bus to make a particular stop.
Luke’s first trip went very well. He identified the pelican crossing as the safest place to cross to the bus stop and then confidently read the timetable for the bus he was due to catch. He spoke with the bus driver and made his payment independently and correctly. He was also able to recognise where he needed to stop and used the button to make his request to the driver.
Luke very quickly showed that he could manage all the steps of his journey, independently. Our job coach then took a step back from travelling alongside Luke, and purely observed him making his journey from a distance. It took only two weeks for Luke to completely master his independent travel, which included a change of buses along the route. He has now made the journey many times on his own, always calling the college once he has arrived safely.
This is life changing for Luke. He has used his new-found skills and confidence to widen his independence.
