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Granting a 'Wish' to Help Someone Work

by Terry Carles

In the process of helping one young woman improve skills needed for employment, a new employment development project for youth with disabilities was also able to help her achieve a special wish. Tinishwa Harris, a young woman enrolled in the MAXIMUS I Can Work! project in Orlando, Florida, needed to develop her manual dexterity, coordination, strength and endurance in order to obtain employment. She also had a wish: She wanted to learn to play the piano. Through combining the resources of several organizations, both the need and the wish were met.

Tinishwa, who has microcephaly (small cranium), ataxia, and developmental delays, is enrolled in special education classes at her high school, uses an adaptive speaking device, and has difficulty with fine motor tasks. During her IEP meeting, she expressed vocational interest in working with small children and/or working with plants at a nursery. The IEP team members reported that she needed to improve her employment readiness skills in the areas of fine motor coordination, strength, and endurance, and increase her rate of attending to tasks. The team suggested that one of the best ways to affect all these key employability skills would be through an activity such as that of which she had dreamed – learning how to play the piano. Though Tinishwa had the ability to learn how to play, the school and family were unable to provide a piano.

The MAXIMUS staff person assigned to this case began researching community-based organizations that might be able to help make this young woman’s dream come true. This research led her to the New Hope Children’s Wish Foundation, in Maitland, Florida. This organization grants wishes to children not yet age 18, whose lifespan will likely be shortened due to disability or disease. Upon hearing about this participant’s circumstances, the director of the foundation, along with MAXIMUS staff, encouraged the family to complete a wish application requesting a piano and one year of piano lessons with a special education instructor. Other agency partners who work closely with this project became involved following their attendance at Tinishwa‘s transition planning meeting held at the school. An SSA Employment Services Representative in a local SSA field office researched piano instructors capable of providing lessons to children with special needs. In March of 2001, the wish for a new piano and free lessons for one year was granted by the New Hope Children’s Wish Foundation. That day the piano was delivered to her home. She has been dedicated to her weekly lessons, only taking time away for surgery, and has been offered an opportunity to play at her church. She will begin job-shadowing with the campus day care center now that she has begun to improve her employability skills.

The MAXIMUS “I Can Work!” project has been a catalyst in helping this one young woman achieve her dream of learning to play the piano while also helping her develop skills for her future independence.

Contributed by Terry Carles, Site Manager for the MAXIMUS I Can Work! Project in Orlando, Florida. She can be reached at 407/245-8000, or by e-mail at TerryCarles@MAXIMUS.com.

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