Heather Livingston, 21, practices counting money every week at Day Solutions, a Jefferson City-based learning facility for adults with developmental disabilities, in the hopes of gaining employment someday.
Working on her individual skills, she adds fake pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and cash, and sorts it into a cash register. Livingston puts that knowledge to use at the Day Solutions store, where clients can use their Day Solutions dollars theyve earned as recognition for their success. They can buy novelties at various prices.
Livingston, who has autism, mans the store, using her finance skills to budget the stores inventory and social skills to interact with her fellow clients as they communicate what they want to purchase. When its time for a snack, Livingston said she tries to practice good customer service, remembering every persons likes and dislikes.
Day Solutions is celebrating its one-year anniversary this month, and Danielle Schwartz, executive director of Day Solutions, said the organization has experienced a lot of growth in that time with its 20 clients, full-time and part-time staff.
As a speech therapist, Schwartz worked with teenage students in state schools for the severely disabled. Her older students would be transitioning out of school, but their parents worried about what was next for them. Parents struggled with the options, she said.
Many didnt want to put their children in full-time placement and wanted them home, but faced difficulties finding an aide, she said. Some parents faced the dilemma of quitting their jobs to care for their adult children.
Recognizing the need, Schwartz found a space at 2725 Merchant Drive in Jefferson City. Then came a year-long process to meet requirements set by the Department of Mental Health, which funds clients enrollment through a Medicaid waiver.
Schwartz said she felt called to open Day Solutions as she watched many of her students from the state schools regress after aging out. Some, she said, still needed more schooling.
Its common and theres lifelong learning that could go on, and I think it needs to be pushed because so many of our clients dont really peak with their cognitive skills until theyre older, Schwartz said. They need the opportunity to gain their full potential.
After graduating from Russellville High School in 2012, Livingston went into employment, but it didnt work out. At Day Solutions, shes bettering herself in order to gain and maintain a job.
Bullied in school throughout her life, Livingston said the clients at Day Solutions have become her friends, who have differing conditions and levels of abilities.
When I come here, I try to be a leader and set a positive, good example for others, she said. I want to be a friend others can look up to when theyre down on themselves or not feeling good about themselves.
During group session in the morning, Livingston tries to help her friends as they recite their names, addresses and phone numbers. Morning group sessions include the same tasks daily, and Schwartz said the repetitiveness helps clients learn their personal information. They take time for art or music, which Schwartz said is a fun break that encourages development of fine motor, communication and language skills.
Each client has a schedule, a list of tasks illustrated by pictures and words, that is utilized daily. They count money, take wine corks out of medicine bottles, practice word recognition and living skills, such as buttoning a shirt, hanging clothes, vacuuming and putting away dishes. One clients schedule is not like the others.
On Thursdays and Fridays, clients put what theyve learned to work as they make trips out in the community. Trips to the park, movies, bowling alley and grocery store round out the week. They also sometimes make stops at Capital Sand and Immaculate Conception Catholic School " community partners that have collaborated with Day Solutions for client volunteer opportunities.
Clients sometimes cannot afford a ticket to the movies or the cost for bowling, for example. Schwartz said Day Solutions is working to establish its own foundation, which will create a fund so no client has to pay for any of these expenses. Day Solutions will host its first fundraiser, Strikes for Solutions, on Saturday, May 14 at Capital Bowl. Proceeds will go toward establishing the foundation.
Eventually, Schwartz said she would like to see the foundation not only funding the clients Thursday-Friday trips, but also scholarships for summer camps and other opportunities.
There are many opportunities that can help them to show their inner shine and to show what theyre made of, Livingston said. We all look the same on the outside, but what matters is on the inside and how it comes out. Thats our true selves, what comes from the heart and what comes from the inside. Thats what really matters.