Until a year ago, 19-year-old Brad Davidson, who is diagnosed with autism, hid from people to avoid having conversations with them. Now he enjoys being around people and talking to them.
Nathan Jewell, who just turned 20, also has been diagnosed with autism, as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder. He has encephalopathy and is semi-verbal and used to wander off from school and was known for having aggressive outbursts many times a day. Now he can go to the grocery store with his mother without having a meltdown, and he can be trusted to run errands unsupervised to the school office.
Both students are thriving now, largely because of a program they’re enrolled in at Hillsboro R-3 School District’s Learning Center called Community Based Vocational Instruction, their mothers said.
Brad and Nathan are the only two students in the program this year, but it can take up to five students, their teacher Sheila Erb said.
She said CBVI provides real-life job experience for students with disabilities who have finished their high school credits. The students may attend the program for two years, or until they turn 21.
Brad and Nathan are “hard-working,” said Erb, who teaches the program, with help from Melaney French, a board-certified behavior analyst, and Ridge Jackson, an applied behavior analyst implementor.
Throughout the week, Brad and Nathan work at several places in Jefferson County.
On Mondays while Nathan works on skills and behaviors at home, Brad cleans and does laundry at Action Fitness Gym in Hillsboro.
Both the young men clean at B&B Theatres in Festus, and at Schnucks in Festus, they bag groceries and clean and put items back on the shelf.
They also wipe off the tables at the Intermediate School, and in the spring, they go to the school district’s farm where they feed animals, make corn rings for the chickens, clean out rabbit cages, water flowers and pull weeds.
By working at jobs around the public, they learn about boundaries and how to act around bosses, Erb said.
For example, Brad is learning not to sigh heavily when someone asks him to do something, Erb said.
She said Nathan is learning it is not OK to cut in front of a customer to wash his hands in the sink.
Brad and Nathan also participate in different school and community activities, allowing them to gain social skills. They’ve worked at the school’s Christmas bazaar, the learning center’s yard sale and they helped load and sort canned goods for Elks Club Thanksgiving baskets.
On the afternoon of March 3, Nathan was making another batch of banana nut muffins to sell to Hillsboro R-3 students and staff.
Brad and Nathan also make and sell dog treats to students and staff and at fundraisers.
Normally, they use money from the fundraisers to buy supplies or fund reward trips for the CBVI program, but earlier this year, they decided to use it to buy wooden roses for residents at Pony Bird in De Soto, a residential care facility for people with profound disabilities. Erb’s daughter, Samantha, is a nurse there.
“We decided we would adopt them (Pony Bird residents) for Valentine’s Day and give them a little bit of spoiling because they don’t always get that,” Erb said.
She said Brad and Nathan made and sold candles and soaps to R-3 staff and students to raise the money.
“We were just going to give (Samantha) this stuff because they had a resident who was a little more vulnerable at the time,” Erb said. “Well, when we carried it in (to the residential home) to put it in the foyer, that particular resident just couldn’t help herself and wheeled herself on out.
“Her name is Tracy (Proffitt) and she was the first one to be given one of the roses and absolutely loved it. It melts my heart because this same particular individual found out the Friday after Valentine’s Day that she had 10 tumors in her lungs.”
Proffitt died Feb. 25. At the funeral, her family told Erb how much the rose from Brad and Nathan meant to her.
Erb said she was touched by how the two handled themselves at Pony Bird.
“Typically, (Nathan) isn’t as gentle of a giant,” she said. “He just rocked it that day and handed (the rose) to her.”
Brad and Nathan also made a red velvet heart-shaped cake for staff, and Nathan played the keyboard to entertain everyone.
“He memorizes the sounds of music and plays them,” Erb said. “He doesn’t read music or anything like that. He can match the sound in his head to the keys.”
Erb said money left over from the rose fundraiser was used to buy stepping stones for Pony Bird and Brad and Nathan are raising money to purchase flowers to put in a garden at Pony Bird.
“So, we’re actually going to go out around Earth Day and help them plant some flowers in that garden, and they’re going to use those stepping stones,” she said.
Seeing the changes
Jim Ramsey, assistant principal of the Learning Center, said it’s great to see Brad and Nathan adapt and come into their own personalities.
Melissa Dean is a bus driver for the district, and she takes Nathan and Brad to their jobs, community projects and quarterly field trips.
“I love it,” she said. “They’re like the best part of my day.”
She said she enjoys her daily conversations with Brad.
“When he started, he did not say a word to me, but I’ve seen a lot of growth out of Brad,” she said. “When we would go down to the bus garage, he wouldn’t talk and now he talks to everybody.”
The two haven’t just changed socially. They also changed physically because they weren’t used to being active, Erb said.
With a more active lifestyle and some diet changes, both have lost a lot of weight and both now enjoy going to the gym to exercise, she said.
Pursuing dreams
Brad’s mother, Sandy Casby-Cook, said her son has become noticeably more independent, and he loves to help people.
Brad said after he completes the CBVI program, he wouldn’t mind working at a pet store since he has experience working at a pet store and a pet rescue, as well as at the district’s farm.
He said he likes working with animals, and he also loves fishing.
Erb said Brad also loves cooking.
Both he and Nathan bake cakes for special occasions and make goodies for fundraisers. They recently made a limousine-shaped cake for those who work out of the bus garage.
Last year, they worked at a restaurant, and Brad said he enjoyed making the house ranch dressing and dinner salads. He also unpackaged brand-new umbrellas for the patio, read the instructions and put them together.
In October, Erb let Brad and Nathan participate in the Learning Center chili cook-off, and they won.
“They made it all themselves,” Erb said. “Brad ground up all the meat and everything in it and put it in a crockpot, let it simmer.”
She said it was the first time Nathan ever tried chili because he’s a picky eater.
Preparing for the future
French said she has been working with Nathan for five years and has seen his behavior change drastically.
“His behavior was so out of control freshman year that they hired me in full time with him,” she said. “His first goal when I started with him was to have less than 40 aggressive behaviors per day.”
His teachers said they are proud he hasn’t hit anyone in two and a half years.
Nathan is learning about consequences and rewards, which are tabulated on a whiteboard, Erb said.
She said Nathan has an excellent memory and likes to play with letter tiles and spell out producer and composer names from movie credits.
He also likes to make nameplates out of Legos, and Erb is seeking donations of Legos so Nathan can try to sell them and start his own little business.
With some assistance, he can do his laundry, make a grocery list, shop for those items and buy them.
Nathan also cooks with some help, Erb said.
Nathan’s mom, Chris Jewell-Beeson, said she believes all school districts should have a CBVI program, or something similar to it.
“The kids who have special needs or need extra help should have that opportunity to be as successful as a normal student,” she said.
Jewell-Beeson said Brad and Nathan learn from each other and push each other.
One time Nathan was complaining about having to sweep and Brad said, “We are men now, so we have to work,” she said.
Jewell-Beeson said she is proud of Nathan’s ability to speak, listen and follow directions now, and his work to become as independent as he can.
She said Erb really pushes the kids to do their best and be as independent as they can.
“And I think for me that’s the most important, to get him out in the community and be as independent as possible,” Jewell-Beeson said.
She hopes Nathan will be able to have a job, although he will need an aide to work with him.
Erb said Nathan enjoys loading and unloading boxes so she believes he would be a good stocker at a store.
This summer, he will attend summer school and work at Save A Lot in De Soto, which is partnering with CBVI, Jewell-Beeson said.
“Next year is his last year in the program, so we are doing things to get him prepared,” she said.