Personal experience on dealing with a learning disability at work.

Growing up and then up until I started doing research for my blog when I was around at 26, I thought that a lot of the panicking I did from having a learning disability, and possibly from other things that has to do with my brain anatomy was from me being lazy, or lacking motivation to put effort into my schoolwork. I got one on one help with my homework in the Sixth grade, but between the work load, my learning disability, and my memory in general it would take me hours each night, and sometimes cut into my sleep if not almost always. With all the effort I put into it that year I would still mostly only get C's. That part I was fully aware that it wasn't my fault, because a big part of it had to do with my low test schools. I would cram for tests and memorize as much as I could before the test, and then purposely forget everything so I would be able to do the same thing for the next test. So I would get to the point where it would be time for midterms, or finals and be screwed. It didn't help that my circle of friends were mostly honor roll students that year, and it at least felt like since they seemed to be stressing out far less about it, so I decided that it wasn't worth putting in the effort. 

When I decided to refuse help after the Sixth grade I would routinely forget to do my homework, and only remember the next morning when I got to School. I had to take a class my Freshman and Sophomore years that had to do with keeping track of homework, practicing note taking things among other things. I can't remember how much of that class included actually doing homework, but regardless it wasn't enough time. I flunked my Freshman year by half a credit, and I was flunking half of my classes at some point during my Sophomore year. A Teacher I had the next two years eventually made forced me to complete all of my homework in her class knowing that if I didn't get it done in School, that there was no way that I would be turning in those assignments, or at least not on time. Somehow she helped me get caught up, and was only half a credit short of graduating on time. 

When I was confronted about missing assignments usually during my IEP meeting finding those assignments involved fishing them out of my backpack. I would panic to pack up before class and throw any assignments I had directly into my backpack. I would always intend to reorganize my backpack later on, and of course it would only had several weeks after School started during my IEP meeting while trying to find specific assignments that ended up crushed in the bottom of my backpack. The same teacher that forced me to do my homework in my class, put a end to this habit as well. Although my backpack was still very messy, and barely organized if at all. Another thing was difficulty in forming habits, specifically hygiene and doing something specific in a class each day. What comes to mind right away when it comes to trouble forming habits is a assignment in 8th Grade Social Studies where we learned about the stock market, and we had to pick stocks and keep track of them daily for several weeks. I loved the idea but after a few days I unintentionally broke the habit of doing it. Not thinking to ask for help catching up, or possibly being nervous about it I ended up dropping the ball completely, and not completing the assignment for the next several weeks.

None of these things stopped being a problem after School ended. If anything it got harder in ways because in School most teachers were aware of learning disabilities, and in a way knew how to deal with it. I had a IEP, and had 2 or 3 Special Ed classes. On a side note I ended up staying or eventually ended up in those 2 out of 3 of those classes because of my black hole of a backpack, and refusing tutoring when it came to complex math classes. Knowing and talking to very regularly to two different people that has the same neurological disorder and learning disability that I do whom actually does put in the effort, or did while in School, I've learned that I probably would have freaked out. If I would have managed to not have missing assignments, then increasing the workload would have caused me to panic, and not get my work done.

As an adult, and working my learning disability has affected me in ways that wasn't as noticeable when I was in School. The two main things is grasping concepts, and having it take forever for me to pick up speed with new concepts. This only became a problem for the most part when I started working at Kroger. The only time my learning disability showed in restaurants jobs was when I would panic, especially in kitchen jobs when I would have to juggle multiple tasks at the same time and be risking burning food or not getting my part of the order out on time.

 

My position for Kroger is produce clerk, and I've been in the same department for almost 10 years. I was promoted from a courtesy clerk when my division restarted their cut fruit program. They had tried it at least other time before Kroger bought my division out. It lasted for 3 and a half years before they started to source it out, and it took me around 2 years before I was fast enough to always get everything done on time. I did strictly cut fruit for almost 2 years. After that for over 7 years including occasional "manager" shifts at stores that had 2 day loads where there was no ordering required the day of my shift. For the 8 months I've been strictly in the wet rack position. Basically everything that's on the wall or aisle in produce where everything needs to be kept wet is my job, including cucumbers, squash, and peppers because it's usually in the same section.Either each specific position or in general I had, and still have problems with organizational skills (especially when I panic), and forming habits. In addition I have trouble grasping concepts, or understanding the point of things. The trouble with concepts, and finding the point in things has to do with nonverbal learning disability as well. But it's either more obvious to me now, or there just isn't any childhood examples that come to mind.

Most if not all of my managers over the last 10 years, both store and produce managers has been understanding of my learning disability and usually without me having to explain. Certain managers gave me or provided me with enough hands on training where I don't really have a problem any new concepts anymore. What was done recently to avoid me panicking really badly when corporate or store policies change is to give me more than one day to switch over to whichever way things are supposed to be done. The way that I eventually got better at organizational skills is realizing how much extra effort I have to put in to fix everything after, and remembering that. I have a backpack for personal use because I don't drive or have a roommate who does. It still gets messy quickly, so I'm not sure how realizing that solution earlier would have helped. When it comes to habits what I started to do is write every habit that I forget at work, and when I'm confident that I've learned that habit, I cross it off. No comment on how long it took to make a habit to write down my list of habits that I need to make a habit of. 

One of the main reasons that I've stayed in the same department for so long is because I want to avoid a learning curve in a completely new department. There however is other departments that I've helped in that I struggled far less in. So if there's ever a problem in my department that won't resolve itself I have options that I'm not too nervous about. Just a reminder I haven't completely resolved all of these problems after almost 10 years of doing the same job. But it has gotten far easier to deal with. My point of this post was to encourage others with similar learning difficulties, trying to help those people be understood, and provide possible solutions.

Importance of therapies early on instead of later from personal experience

I meant to write this on Friday but I've been keeping busy at work so I haven't had much time to put a post together. I've also been nervous about writing this specific post so I've been putting it off but I feel it's something that really has to be said. I spent the majority of my childhood in Speech Therapy and was given the option to stop my Freshman year of High School even if I was no where near finishing the program, and I definitely wouldn't have before graduation. I was given that option because I was pulled out of class for Speech Therapy and it that itself was a bigger problem than it was in Junior High and especially Elementary School. I sort of regret of not taking Speech Therapy for the rest of High School but now that I've been backsliding again it might not have mattered later on. My speech impediment hasn't stopped me from finding jobs. I went through a few jobs before settling with Kroger and got promoted during the time I've been having Hydrocephalus related medical problems and while my speech has been backsliding.

Even though I'm not willing to go into much detail about it writing on a public site, what I regret now is the lack of Occupational Therapy when a lot of the focus was on  Speech Therapy. I had it in Preschool and then during a two year period when I was in the 5th grade and into Junior High in the form of Adaptive P.E but I wish I would have been offered more. I'm not sure how much the school district offered though, and my parents wouldn't have been able to afford if it wasn't something they would have had to pay for. I'm able to do that majority of my job without a problem but I run into problems when I have to do something that has to do with fine motor skills. I've been offered Occupational Therapy recently but working 5 or 6 days a week and almost full time it's something I don't have time for. I need to keep my availability open as much as possible too so it would be tough to schedule it on a regular basis.

The point of this post is a warning to Parents of children with Hydrocephalus or younger people with it to consider Occupational Therapy if it's not already being provided because problems fine motor skills and other similar problems will just be worse in the work force. I know that there's a lot of people with Hydrocephalus and with some it's obvious it wouldn't be possible early on. But with many people with Hydrocephalus it is possible to lead a pretty normal life. Thanks for reading, and I helped and encouraged others. If you want to know about my specific struggles with fine motor skills at work feel free to send me a E-mail or contact me on the social networking sites where I post links to my blog.

 http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/ill/occupational_therapy.html

 http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/ill/speech_therapy.html

 http://www.hydroassoc.org/docs/A_Teachers_Guide_to_Hydrocephalus.pdf

Media Views On Hydrocephalus: Fastball's "The Way"

This is mu 8th post with the specific topic of "Media views on Hydrocephalus". Each one is about a well known person or a character with Hydrocephalus, or someone that most likely has it. This post is kind of different but it falls underneath the same category. Some of the posts was about people I already knew about but a few like this one was because something sparked my curiosity and looking into it I found out it's probably Hydrocephalus related.

I work for a division of Kroger and each store's music is based on the typical ages of customers. So the music that plays at the store frequently might not be played at all or very rarely at other stores. I worked in the backroom for almost 2 years because my primary and usually only job was doing prep work. Ever since I started working on the sales floor again during the last year and a half I've been paying a lot more attention to the music my store plays. It's seems like they've changed the music they play but it may also be that I can focus on the music that I don't work in the front end of the store anymore. The music that catches my attention the most is from the late 90's when I was in Junior high. Most of the bands and songs I recognized right away but there's a few that I had to look up either with the Soundhound app on my phone or looking up whatever lyrics I could remember on Google. One of those bands is Fastball, and this band specifically I never would have remembered them if my job didn't play their music. They had one song that reached the top of the mainstream rock chart in 1998 which is the one this post is specifically about. "The Way" and another song from the same album "Out Of My Head" reached the billboard top 40. Two others charted as well but not in the top 40 and probably aren't recognized as well. Those two songs are "Fire Escape" and "You're An Ocean". The first 3 songs were all released around the same time from their album "All The Pain Money Can Buy". The 4th "You're An Ocean" was released a couple years later in 2000 off their album "The Harsh Light Of The Day". Their 2000 album was the last to be released on a major record label and didn't do very well compared to their success of "All The Pain Money Can Buy".

I've brought up this band and a couple others recently and while most don't remember them at all, I was reminded that there is a back story to their more successful song "The Way". I looked more into it and the song is about a elderly couple Lela and Raymond Howard. They left their home in Salado, Texas in June of 1997 heading to the Pioneer Festival close by in Temple, Texas. Lela had Alzheimer's and Raymond had brain surgery recently and was started to show problems from that including memory problems and becoming disoriented. They were found 2 weeks later dead in a ravine near Hot Springs, Arkansas. The bassist for Fastball, Tony Scalzo read articles about the couple and came up with the song. He already finished by the time he learned that the couple had passed away. Scalzo said that "It's a romanticized take on what happened" and that he "pictured them taking off to have fun, like they did when they first met."

What sparked my interest in the story was the mention of brain surgery. When I looked into it I kept on finding the same article about the song and the story of the couple just posted on different sites. I decided to try to look even deeper and found out that the surgery was to relieve swelling his skull after the car accident. The first thing that came to mind was Hydrocephalus but since I can't find any more information on it I still can't be sure.

Thanks for reading, I've mentioned this before but I plan on writing more about this specific topic again soon. The problem is that most of the ideas that have to do with this subject are ones that involve a lot more research.

 


http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3701

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-07-14/news/9707140050_1_found-festival-dense-brush

http://www.texnews.com/texas97/coup071497.html

Customer service experience with a kid with a neurological disorder

I'm going to write about something that was inspired by a positive experience at my job during my shift tonight (Wednesday). I had something else planned but I would have needed to include research and I need to replace my laptop so it would have been hard to do. When I was growing up I knew very few people with neurological disorders, and even less people that were around my age with them. If I knew anyone with Hydrocephalus, I wasn't aware of it. I was a couple of high school and had just started to work at my second job when I met my first close "brain buddy". He has Cerebral palsy, and knowing him has helped me recognize it in other people. I've known others with cp since before I knew him, but they usually had a worse case or I didn't realize what was wrong with them until later. Other neurological disorders can show the same symptoms too though, including Hydrocephalus, strokes and seizure disorders.

About half way into my shift during the busiest part of the evening I walked out of the backroom onto the produce sales floor getting ready to write a list for what needed to be on my next cart or two. A kid that looked like he was 10 or 11 stopped me and asked me if I could check the price on a bottle of sparkling juice that we have during the holiday season. I told him that I had a scanning gun and I would be right back. I saw him walk forward and noticed his limp and that it affected his whole right side, especially his arm. I recognized it right away as having to do with Cerebral palsy or another neurological disorder. I felt bad for him, knowing the challenges that my friend has dealt with and the challenges that people with neurological disorders in general have to deal with from personal experiences. Rather it's being more likely to be bullied, the way people see him or different kind of therapies. I went to the department back room to discover that someone had taken my scanning gun so I told him that I needed to go to the front but I would be back in a minute. I went and got a gun from behind customer service and started to sign into it as I started to walk back in his direction, and I was surprised to see that he had walked across the store and was waiting for me in front of the registers. It ended up being too much and I put it back for him. At some point during this time I noticed what looked like a shunt scar on the top of his head, I noticed because of his short hair cut. I didn't ask because I didn't want to find out I was wrong or point out something he may not want to think about. If he does have it, it might have been encouraging to meeting someone else with it, but I'm sure it was obvious that I at least have a neurological disorder of some kind too. Something that I didn't think of until after he and his family left was that if he does have a shunt it would have probably be visible in his neck area and even if I was face to face with him multiple times I didn't think to look. I ended up running into him one last time, somewhat on purpose because I wanted to do something to make his day without him realizing it was because I felt bad him. I still had the scanning gun in my hand and helped him check a couple prices so he could find a different holiday drink.

misconceptions about shunts (that have come up in some recent conversations)

Hydrocephalus has always affected me in different ways, but it wasn't until I started to have my problems with the shunt itself that I started to talk about it. Up until a few years ago,the majority of the time that I mentioned it was on a need to know basis. Even then there were times where I feel I should have mentioned to people that was in the care of me, as a kid and especially when I was a teenager. When I started getting headaches a lot more often was when I decided not to say quiet about it. I talk about on Facebook once in a while, and I post a link to my blog there whenever I write something new. I've also at least tried to explain my condition when to my department heads,and whenever it's brought up at work. There's some parts where it seems to really hard to understand, no matter how much they want to. The most common is probably has to do with shunts. I'm writing this because I'll be posting it on my Facebook, where some of those people that are confused with the subject will be able to read this. Also if it's brought up at work,I'll be able to direct people to this blog post.

There are different kinds of shunts,and not all of them are used for Hydrocephalus. There are some that are used for heart or liver problems instead. But most commonly it's used for Hydrocephalus or other similar neurological disorders. Shunts are a valve and a catheter that drains cerebrospinal fluid from the brain to another part of the body,when the person's body cannot do this by itself. The drain usually ends in the peritoneal cavity, but with some people it drains to the heart or other organs. The shunt is usually placed in or around the skull going into the brain,but underneath the person's skin. The result is that it's usually visible,but it might not always be noticed by someone who doesn't know anything about it or doesn't know what to look for. Shunts could also be programmable or a fixed valve. A fixed valve is one that is placed at some point, but then there's no way of controlling it without surgery. With the programmable shunt the neurosurgeon can control the settings without needing to do any kind of surgery. Both kinds of shunts has it's own sets of risks and complications. Mine is a fixed valve, because the programmables weren't available until about a decade later. In some cases surgery isn't necessary but it's really rare. Then something that is a option for a limited amount of people is Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy, where a hole is made in the wall of the Third Ventriculostomy so the fluid can be drained that way. But that options fails often as well, because the hole could close itself up.

What people seem to not understand is my shunt and why it's lasted so long. Mine was placed on September 15th,1987 and at least for now it has lasted me 26 years. For the first 22 years, it rarely even bothered me and the times it only did bother me enough to be noticeable a handful of times. When it did start bothering me  I went to the hospital for during a period of several months and both times I was told the shunt was working fine and it was probably something else. I was sent to the neurologist that I ended up stopped seeing when I was trying to transition from working two jobs to just one part time job.

It's very rare for a shunt to last as long as mine has, but it has nothing to do with a shelf life. There actually isn't any for shunts,and I've met others that has had the same shunt for years or even decades longer than I have, and most of them have very little or no problems with it still. So even if one of the reasons that I'm trouble with mine because it's old, that doesn't mean that's it's past a certain shelf life, because others with older shunts would be having the same problems. It's also pretty common for people to have constant problems with shunts, that are a lot newer. Also not all problems with shunts can't always be fixed by surgery, it sucks but it's just something that a lot of people have to deal with on a daily basis. 

The reason that it's a rare case, is because half of all shunts malfunction in some way during the first two years. Not because of a "shelf life" but because they either break, become infected, or become blocked. I've had people ask or tell me that I should try to force my neurosurgeon or other doctors to replace my shunt just because it's "too old". The reason that I don't do this is because just because this shunt has lasted so long doesn't mean that the next one will. When I do need surgery I will be facing the normal statistics of the life span of shunts. There's a 50% chance that I will never have a shunt last for more than 2 years ever again and I'll like to avoid that until I get to the point where I need to have it replaced. This may be soon, but this last something that people have been telling me since I started talking about it more. 

I covered a couple of the main misconceptions of shunts, specifically mine or others that has lasted a long period of time. If you want me to add anything else or have any questions, please feel free to contact me. If there's anything that needs to be talked about on this subject than I'll write about this subject again in the near future. Thanks for reading.

getting back into writing my blog..

This is the first blog post I've posted in two months.Unlike last year after melon season I continued to work a lot still and I was really getting burned out.On top of that I was in a stressful situation that at work that I won't go into detail about for respect for the company that I work at.I was having a hard time coming up with subjects,along with everything else that was going on I was having trouble coming up with new topics.I wasn't able to post on a regular basis so I decided to take a break until things got back to normal and so I could think of some subjects.

This week I'm changing positions but staying the same department,store and company.Instead of being the main person doing cut fruit at the store (parfaits,fruit trays,slices,cored pineapples etc etc) I'm going to be closing most of the week in the Produce department and doing back up for the person whose taking my place.It's not guaranteed it will be permanent yet,but I have faith in my co worker and high hopes.Along with the change of position,comes a lot of pressure off my back so I can focus on other things.It's less hours too but it would be good to have a break so I can focus on my health so I can feel better soon.

For the time being I plan to talk about the same subjects I have in the past,but any suggestions would be great.I'm going to post every other week and hopefully on the same days or before then.I'm gonna have to build up a following,and I feel bad for losing anyone who read this blog with the help of social media.

My purpose of writing is the same,and from talking to people I know I have been successful.If you haven't seen my first couple posts and started reading I was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus at 17 months,but have gone 25 years with no revisions.I wen't 22 years with barely any problems,and 18 years without having to have a CT scan. I've had to struggle with some things that's not exactly common with people with the condition,but also things that are that isn't really well known.My blog is to help get the word out about these things and other topics that have to do with Hydrocephalus that hasn't been put online as much as it should be.Also so I can do my part in raising awareness for Hydrocephalus. I've succeeded in doing this,and hope to make a even bigger impact this year and the years to come.

In the next couple months I'll be talking about Hydrocephalus related events I've participated in during the last couple of months and others and foundations planned for the future.Also guest posts and more about subjects I've posted about before,thanks for reading.

working while living with a chronic medical condtion

Work has been keeping busy the last couple weeks and had a couple evening and graveyard shifts along with the normal morning shifts.I'm excited about getting more experience in Produce instead of just cut fruit and having little or no experience in everything else.But when I just do cut fruit then I usually always know what day of the week or at least the date because I pull everything in my case that's out of date when I first come in.It's not a big deal but it caused me to forget to start thinking of what to write about until just a couple days,so that's why I'm posting later in the week this week.I was having a hard time thinking of a topic so I didn't think I was going to post at all.This post is going to be more selfish than others,but I wouldn't be posting it if I didn't think it would help at least someone.I'll try to at least make it into something with more information than what I have already planned as well.

I've been thinking some today about how my job history would have been different if I would have decided to mention my hydrocephalus and my shunt in any of my job applications.It's not that I was afraid that I wouldn't get the job,but it I didn't see it as a issue.Up until a few years ago any problems I had with my shunt was few and far between,and not really something to be concerned about.By the time it did become a problem and when I started to think about it more I had been with my current job for a couple years,and I was working a second job.So I had already filled out all the job applications and at least started with all the jobs I've had.The company I work for is one that I know won't get rid of me no matter how many surgeries and recovery time I'll need in the future.I'm not saying that it's how my life will be,but hydrocephalus is very unpredictable and there's always a chance.I didn't realize the reasons why I should have put it on applications and there are several,but one is that it's usually more important to have a job where you won't risk getting fired or have the employer have no idea what's going on than to just get the first job that comes around.

Another thing that's important about working while living with hydrocephalus or any pre-existing condition that requires any kind of surgery is the work that you do.Although it's rare to get a job where you'll be in a good position during surgeries and then the recovery process it helps.The first couple of my jobs were fast food,and other than the risk of losing those jobs I can't really think of any other problems I would have had with them.But if I would have need surgery when I was working in a sit down restaurant that's where there would have been problems.The main one would have been trying to stay there without heavy lifting during recovery,because all restaurants jobs except for one include heavy lifting on a regular and then being a cashier/host can't always be a option.

I currently work a division of Kroger,and in August it will be 5 years.I've been in produce for a little over a year now and before then I was a courtesy clerk.I was stuck in that position for longer than normal because I had problems I had to overcome,because I don't always learn things as fast as everyone else,and because of people trying to keep me down because of disability in general.Produce is probably not the best department to be in with the risk of future surgeries or having a shunt in general but if I need to then I can switch departments.Then I can switch back to Produce when I can because that's where I really want to be and succeed in.But if that doesn't happen then there's several other departments that I can end up in and learn to love,that I can still work in even if I have a speech impediment.I know it might not what comes to mind when you think of produce but the reason why I may not always be able to work in produce is because of all the heavy lifting.The boxes and bags that produce is kept in can get pretty heavy,for example apple boxes and melon boxes are usually 50 pounds or more.I've always felt that health insurance has been good to have in a job,in general but when having a medical condition to be more specific.I don't know how much it will help exactly and I do need to work at least 80 hours a month to have it so when I need to go on leave that means that I will lose it before I'm able to work that many hours a month again,and it won't cover what happens when I don't have it.The other part of my job that I feel is important is the option of leave of absence,and it's not something where you risk losing your job after only a short period of time.There's sick leave,vacation and personal days too but it will only cover so much time and I'll only be able to have income still for about a month after surgery,and that won't save my health insurance.Also I'm a union employee,and I understand that people have mixed opinions about it but most people who don't think I should be involved don't understand the risks without them.Not only does it make it harder for people to mess with my job or even cause me to lose it just because of my disability it will help me when/if I need surgery.Because I'll be able to stress out less about medical bills,rather it means helping getting paid off or just stopping the harassment from bill collectors.Also if my health goes downhill,then they will be able to help me get on disability and have help with the transition.

I hope this helps more than I think,and thanks for reading :)

neuro side effects at work

Today I'm going to talk more about the neurological side effects of hydrocephalus and brain damage/injury in general.For more info read my last blog entry http://timothy-landry.blogspot.com/2012/01/neurological-side-effects-of-brain.html .I'm going to focus more on the ones that I've struggled with the most on how they've effected me at the different jobs I've had,hopefully in some way helping others. The ones I've struggled with the most are speech,vision,muscle strength,memory problems,balance,coordination,organization skills,keeping/breaking habits,and clumsiness.Out of these few of them have really made a impact on my work,but it's differents for everyone.I recently found out that alot of people with multi task for example but that's something I've personally never have had trouble with,it's actually something that I've been good at.

The ones out of these that I've struggled with the most while working is memory problems,organization,and not being able to keep a habit.Other than the ones listed above I've also struggled with are ataxia,the inability to focus,and also my emotions usually having to do with anger.It's hard to find info about what emotions has to with hydrocephalus online,unless it's about kids and adults dealing with emotions after or before surgery.The only reason that I know it has something to do with hydrocephalus is because of others with the condition that I've spoken to online.

The first job that I had that I really I really struggled at was Peter Piper Pizza,at least when it came to neurological side effects.Unless you live in Arizona you probably don't know what Peter Piper Pizza is.It's a Pizza chain in Arizona with a large dining room,and also a game room.Like it's main competer,Chuck E Cheese it's a place that mainly used for birthday parties,youth sports pictures,and for families with children. It was the only job I had where I couldn't focus sometimes.It would mainly be when what I was doing wouldn't keep me busy enough,and my reaction to that would usually be losing focus.At Peter Piper Pizza one of my main jobs was working the prize cabinet, which is where kids and and sometimes their parents would come trade in their tickets they had won from the games for prizes.It sounds really simple but I also had a problem keeping the toys and prizes where they belonged and they were just end up on the ground alot,and over time it would really start to pile up.This was mainly caused by my ataxia because my hands always shake so it's hard for me to do anything with my hands,and also not being to keep the habit of just picking it up each time.Something else that my ataxia caused me to struggle with was replacing the receipt tape for the ticket eater because you need to steady hand to be able to get it in correctly,I ended up having the same problem during the first several months that I worked in the produce department at my current job.A ticket eater is the machine that you feed your tickets into so it could count them and print up a reciept instead counting the tickets by hand.I also would bring the game keys often without knowing it until I got home,because I kept it in my pocket I wouldn't really think about it.

Except for my current job,my only other job was at a italian resturant where I was a busser for two years.My coordination and memory was a problem at times,for example the two years I worked there I never was able to memorize the table numbers.Also something a problem that me memory caused was trying to remember which customer I was getting something for,didn't help when they wouldn't make eye contact with me when I came back.Other than that the only other problem I had their that's worth mentioning had to do with closing.It was the closing busser's responsibility to be tipped out by the servers,write down how much I got from each server,keep that money on them and then split up the tips at the end of the night.Not only would I always forget to bring my pen to work,but I'll also forget to get change before closing,and on occasion I would lose track of money,something I've personally never been able to do well with my own money.

I've been working at my current job for 4 and a half years now,and I've been working in the produce department their for almost a year.organization,memory,ataxia,and keeping a habit.As a courtesy clerk I had trouble with the bags,they would stick togheter alot anyway but my hands didn't help either.I would also let empty bags pile up in my work area,but that was the worse of it.In Produce clerk I'm in charge of the cut fruit program which consists of fruit trays,melon slices and also "fruit cups".I've had problems making it a habit to do alot of the small things that has to do with the job like making it a habit to fill out my melon log.Another problem I've had is to remembering to let my manager know what I need for the order and once in a while that means going with out some supplies or getting it from another store.This is also my first job where I know what's causing these problems so it's alot easier to work on getting better,and I know I can overcome these obstacles like I've done or at least worked on for many others.

I plan to continue talking about this subject next week,but more about how it's affected other parts of my life.Thanks for reading :)