Transcript Title Master

Building a Continuum of
Accessible Transportation for
Students with Disabilities: Creating
Linkages Across Pupil
Transporters and Educators
National Association for Pupil Transportation
October 2012
Judy L. Shanley, Ph.D.
Director, Student Engagement & Mobility Management
Donna Smith, Director of Training
Easter Seals Project ACTION
WWW.PROJECTACTION.ORG
Today’s Agenda
• Overview of Easter Seals Project ACTION
• Implementing Transportation Education
• Travel Instruction Options
– Using Creating Linkages Tool
ESPA,
Easter Seals Project Action (ESPA)
• Mission: promote universal access to transportation for people
with disabilities…
• Supports the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Begun by Congress twenty three years ago to build bridges of
understanding between the Transportation and Disability
Community
• Cooperative Agreement funded by the Federal Transit
Administration and Administered by Easter Seals
• Aligned with Easter Seals work to improve the lives of children,
youth, and adults with disabilities
ESPA,
Four Functional Areas to Help Local
Organizations Build Accessible
Transportation Capacity
• Training Events – travel training, webinars, online training
• Technical Assistance – 800#, email, in-person coalition building events
• Applied Research – fund catalyst and gap filling programs to stimulate
academic inquiry and leverage new product development
• Outreach – build awareness & create partnerships
ESPA,
Voices from Youth
I feel like I am independent. I don’t
need to depend on my mom and dad to
take me places. Now I can ride
the bus to get to my job and to the movies
with my friends.
Spontaneous Choice
http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/183/183.pdf
ESPA,
Transportation education creates a culture,
accompanied by a coordinated set of
practices, to connect students, families,
educators, pupil transporters, and public
transportation professionals to create a system
by which students have knowledge, access,
and choice regarding a continuum of as
they transition from school to postsecondary
education, employment, and independent living
settings
ESPA,
This is an Ideal Time to Focus on
Transportation Education….
• From an Education Perspective
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Resources devoted to college and career readiness
Emphasis on common core standards
Pressure on schools to graduate students
Students decreasing interest in driving
• From a Transit Perspective
 MAP-21
• Focus on coordination of resources across Federal
sectors – mobility management
 Environmental and health benefits
ESPA,
Building a Continuum of
Transportation Education
Moving up the Tiers
Less numbers of students
More defined service
Greater time & resource
commitment
Specialized training and
competence of providers
Intense Services
-Travel Training;
-Para transit eligibility
-OT/PT/Behavioral
Interventions
Focused Transportation
Assessments &Education
-Travel Training Assessments
-OT/PT Behavioral assessment
-Travel Instruction - Familiarization
District-Wide Transportation Education
-Provide professional development to educators around
accessible transportation supports
-Engage families and students in transportation education in
early grades
-Integrate transportation content across grade levels and
curriculum (ELA, Math, geography, etc.)
-Rely on transit for community-based experiences
-Invite transit into schools and programs
-Establish linkages across educators, pupil transportation, and
public transportation sectors
-Provide travel instruction - orientation
ESPA,
Building an Accessible Transportation Continuum
for Students with Disabilities to Support Transition
Students
& Families
Educators
Safe Routes to
Schools
Pupil
Transportation
Public
Transportation
Interconnected Systems and People
www.cec.sped.org
http://www.dcdt.org/
http://www.saferoutesinfo.
org/
http://www.napt.org/
www.nasdpts.org
http://www.apta.com/
ESPA,
Pupil Transporters can Work with
Educators to Build Awareness around
Transportation Education
• Participate in education events
• Share materials and transportation resources
• Attend IEP meetings
• Facilitate family-student summits
• Conduct community resource mapping
ESPA,
Pupil Transporters and Educators can
Work Together to Build Skills and
Practice (for educators & students)
• Provide professional development to colleagues
• Assist students with skill development
• Use vehicles as learning platforms
• Understand and participate in travel instruction
• Consider offering travel instruction
– Orientation, familiarization, travel training
ESPA,
Travel Instruction
Travel instruction is the array, continuum, or family of
services offered to individuals with disabilities,
seniors, and others who need assistance to increase
their mobility and travel on public transportation
independently.
Association on Travel Instruction (ATI) - http://www.travelinstruction.org/index.html
ESPA,
Travel Instruction – Multi-tiered Process
Think about your role as a pupil transporter, how can you
contribute to:
• Travel Orientation
– Individual or group activity conducted for the
purpose of explaining the transportation system.
• Travel Familiarization
– Individual or group activity to facilitate use of
transportation systems with a travel trainer
accompanying experienced traveler(s) on a new
on a new mode of transportation or route to point
out/explain features of access and usability.
ESPA,
Travel Training
• One-to-one short-term instruction provided to an individual
who has previously traveled independently and needs
additional training or support to use a different mode of
travel, a different route, mode of transit, or travel to a new
destination
- or • One-to-one comprehensive, specially designed instruction in
the skills and behaviors necessary for independent travel on
public transportation provided to an individual who does not
have independent travel concepts or skills to go from point of
origin of trip to destination and back
ESPA,
Travel Training – Assessment Phase
• Travel Assessment – Think about how you can
contribute to the assessment process
– Comprehensive
• Classroom data
• Performance data
• Family data
• Community data
ESPA,
Creating Linkages across Pupil
Transporters and Educators Tool
• How involved are you in education processes?
• Can you use the yellow school bus as a learning
platform for students to learn about public transit?
ESPA,
Orientation - Yellow School Buses as the
First Step
– Simulate public buses
• Establish fare cards
• Invite public transit drivers on school grounds
• Develop schedules and route maps
• Provide students/clients computer route maps
• Mimic passenger alert systems on buses
• Replicate social variance on bus
School Transportation News Online http://www.stnonline.com/webcasts
ESPA,
ESPA Resources
• www.projectaction.org
– Travel Training Resources
– Youth Initiative Resources
• Accessible Transportation for Students Online
Community
– Share ideas and learn more about travel training
for student populations: http://www.espancst.communityzero.com/ats
ESPA,
Contact Information
• Judy Shanley
– [email protected]
– 800-659-6428
– 202-403-8354
• Donna Smith
– [email protected]
– 800-659-6428
– 202-403-8349
ESPA,