Compass takes pride in its ability to respond to community service needs. Over the past few years, the state’s Department of Developmental Services has identified a disparity in service provision to non-English speaking consumers across California.
Compass has made efforts to reach out to the various cultural groups and address their service needs. Sandra Do is a Vietnamese- American whose family’s primary language is Vietnamese. Sandra is a very active member in the community.
She participates in the Junior Giants Baseball Game at Olinder Elementary School in downtown San Jose twice a month. She is trying her best to become physically active. She enjoys participating in the Junior Giants baseball games. Sandra also expresses the desire to participate in Special Olympics to become physically fit and to be involved in the community.
Currently, she is working on her goal to improve her mathematics skills and money counting. She is able to apply the mathematical concepts of price comparison that her ILS Coaches have equipped her with. Sandra is progressing really well with her math skills. Her current ILS Coach reports that when he began working with Sandra, she was able to accurately perform simple mathematic subtraction operations. With his coaching, she has now been able to apply these basic math concepts to more difficult real life scenarios. Sandra and her coach practice math problems at Cambrian Library every week. They review examples of math subtractions to application problems that involve money counting. On the weekend, they practice applying those mathematic concepts to real life scenarios at the bookstore, at shopping malls, or at grocery super markets. Her coach explains, “We might go to Barnes and Nobles and look at many books to compare prices. I often asked her, “Sandra, which book cost more, this one, or the other one?” She looks at the price, and then she gives the correct answer. I also ask her to mathematically explain her answers and she is able to do it well. “
Sandra’s staff say that what makes her very great to work with is her attitude. She always has a happy smile and is filled with joy whenever they meet to work on math,
Shopping in the community, or to go to the Junior Giants Baseball Game. Sandra is upbeat, honest, and has a great sense of humor. “Her positive attitude and her willingness to improve at life skills and to be engaged in community events, is very encouraging for me as an ILS coach. It is a pleasure to coach Sandra, knowing that Compass has made a positive difference in her daily life.”