Looks Good on Paper
Travis turned nineteen just after he finished high school at Humanex Academy. Because Travis was on an Individual Education Plan (IEP) he was eligible to participate in transition services through our local school district.
Transition services are available through age twenty-one. I believed this to be the best next move for Travis. If you have been following along, you know that we enrolled Travis in CLE (College Living Experience) for three weeks during the summer after he finished his high school classes. He struggled during his time there and at the end of the three weeks CLE determined that Travis was not mature enough to participate in their college supports program.
CLE staff members had backgrounds working with individuals with intellectual disabilities. He struggled even with that level of support. He wasn’t ready to take on a certificate or college type program. He also was not ready for a job.
Per Peter Wright and Pamela Wright in their book, Special Education Law, “The term transition services means a coordinated set of activities for a student, designed within an outcome-oriented process, that promotes movement from school to post school activities, including post-secondary education, vocational training, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation.
The coordinated set of activities shall be based upon the individual student’s needs, taking into account the student’s preferences and interests, and shall include instruction, community experiences, the development of employment and other post school adult living objectives, and, when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation”.
If you have a child that is on an IEP, be sure to bring up the possibility of your child participating in transition services around the time they start high school. I was a strong advocate for Travis during his IEP meetings. Participating in a transition program was always an option for him. But as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer, I have learned from attending IEP meetings for the children I mentor, that the school may not offer transition services if a parent does not ask for them.
Travis attended our local school district’s transition program each weekday, except Wednesday, from 8:30 to 2:30. Each day time was spent on daily living skills, personal/social skills and community access.
The program took place in a modular building outside of one of the district’s school buildings.
The program covered the Life Centered Career Education (LCCE) competencies. The LCCE approach integrates classroom instruction with community-based experiences and the active involvement of family members, employers, and human service agencies in cooperatively preparing students with the skills needed for adult functioning. The three curriculum areas are daily living skills, personal/social skills, and occupational guidance and preparation.
Topics covered under daily living skills included:
Managing Personal Finances
Selecting and Managing a Household
Caring for Personal Needs
Raising Children and Meeting Marriage Responsibilities
Buying, Preparing and Consuming Food
Buying and Caring for Clothing
Exhibiting Responsible Citizenship
Utilizing Recreational Facilities and Engaging in Leisure
Getting Around the Community
Topics covered under personal/social skills included:
Achieving Self-Awareness
Acquiring Self-Confidence
Achieving Socially Responsible Behavior
Maintaining Good Interpersonal Skills
Achieving Independence
Making Adequate Decisions
Communicating with Others
Topics covered under occupational guidance and preparation included:
Knowing and Exploring Occupational Possibilities
Selecting and Planning Occupational Choices
Exhibiting Appropriate Work Habits and Behavior
Seeking, Securing, and Maintaining Employment
Exhibiting Sufficient Physical/Manual Skills
Obtaining Specific Occupational Skills
This all looks good on paper. Remember the Wright’s definition of transition services? They said that the coordinated set of activities shall be based upon the individual student’s needs, and taking into account the student’s preferences and interests.
Travis did need support working on all of the above bulleted items. The biggest problem with the transition program that our district offered fell under the occupational piece. Every Monday on his schedule from 10:15-11:00 was dedicated to making pizza boxes for a local pizza company. Every Monday. Same thing. I guess this falls under obtaining specific occupational skills.
Travis was not interested in making pizza boxes for a career choice. And he mastered this skill during the first week. Yet he had to participate in this activity. Week after week. He did share that this was not a career interest for him. To no avail. And then he became frustrated.
Every day on his schedule from 11:00 to 11:30 was Mod Jobs. This consisted of cleaning the modular building that housed the transition program. Do I need to tell you what he thought about that? Again, not specifically interested in working a janitorial position as a career.
One day each week during the Community Access block in his schedule from 12:15-2:15 they went to a city park and cleaned after the weekend soccer games. Picking up trash.
If the transition program truly considered his preferences and interests, it may have included some type of more technical job. Something to do with computers. Or repairing electronics.
He did not like the transition program. He believed that the school was making money from the work the students were providing. He believed that if he was doing the work he should be the one getting paid.
And now that he had his license, he drove himself the four blocks to school. And when he got frustrated, he drove himself home from school. Before his school day was over.
I know what you’re thinking. Don’t let him drive to school. But honestly leaving when he was frustrated was better than what we had faced in the past, which included punching holes in walls or having a meltdown. So removing himself from a situation was a step in the right direction.
And the modular building was only four blocks from our house. He could leave and walk home.
Travis did get through his first year of transition services. In July of 2013 we received a letter detailing information for the next year. At this point, Travis is twenty years old. The letter stated that the teacher he had the year before would be out on maternity leave until the end of October.
Travis simply refused to go. As his parents and his legal guardians, we strongly encouraged him to go. The legal guardianship paperwork is very clear that as guardian, in making decisions, we must consider the expressed desires and personal values of Travis. And to the extent possible we should encourage him to participate in decisions.
On to adulthood.
“Each sunrise is a fresh start…a new day…a brand new pencil on an empty page.” - Linda Poindexter