Transcript IDEA-Definition of Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED)

Chapter 15
Transitioning to Adulthood
How Do Former Special Education Students
Fare as Adults?
• Completing high school
– Only 25% of the students with disabilities exited high school with a
diploma in the 1999-2000 school year
• Employment status
– The unemployment rate for young adults with disabilities is 36.5%
when they have been out of school for 3-5 years. Worst for students
with sensory disabilities.
• Postsecondary education
– 27% of young adults with disabilities enrolled in postsecondary
education compared with 68% of the general population
• Overall adjustment and success
– 37% live independently compared to 60% of the general population
– 4 out of 5 former special education students had still not achieved the
status of independent adulthood after being out of high school for up
to 5 years
What does it mean to be adjusted?
• Independent functioning in three domains:
– Employment
• full time job, or job training
– Residential arrangement
• living alone, with spouse or roommate
– Social activities
• having friends, belonging to social groups
Transition Services
• Transition is a process involving the coordination, delivery,
and transfer of services from school to post-school
agencies
Definition of Transition Services in IDEA
• Outcome-oriented process based upon the student’s
individual needs and preferences
• Includes:
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Instruction
Related services
Community experiences
Employment
Daily living opportunities
Functional vocational evaluation
Transition Services Models
• Funding authorized for secondary education and
transitional services
• Will’s bridges model of school-to-work transition (secondary ed to work)
– Three levels of service:
• No transition services
• Time-limited transition services
• Ongoing employment services
• Halpern’s three-dimensional model (not only working is
important !)
– Three domains:
• Quality of residential environment
• Adequacy of social/interpersonal network
• Meaningful employment
Individualized Transition Plan
• When a student reaches age 14, IDEA requires the IEP
team to consider post-school goals
• When a student reaches age 16, an individualized
transition plan must be developed
• Appropriate transition-related objectives should be
selected at each age/grade level, beginning in elementary
school
Employment
• Preparing students for life after school
– Three characteristics to good secondary programs:
• Functional (vocational) skills curriculum
• Integrated settings
• Community-based instruction
• Competitive employment
– Performs work valued by an employer
– Functions in an integrated setting with non-disabled
coworkers
– Earns at or above the minimum wage
Employment (cont.)
• Supported employment for adults with moderate and
severe MR
– Small business enterprise
• New business use individuals with disabilities as part of their
workforce
– Mobile work crew
• E.g., construction, maintenance
– Workstation
• Specific projects performed by a group of workers (e.g., paper
shredding)
– Individual placement
• E.g., jobs at large organizations such as Starbucks, Target, etc.
Employment (cont.)
• Natural supports?
• Co-workers?
• Natural and contrived cues?
Employment (cont.)
• Sheltered employment
– Vocational setting for adults with disabilities, offer transitional
and extended employment
– Similar to a small business enterprise providing rehab,
training, and employment
– Business partnerships enable people with disabilities to
contribute to society through meaningful employment and
increased independence, self-confidence, and dignity.
– The problems with sheltered employment include limited
opportunities for job placement and low pay
– Not staffed or equipped for sophisticated work
Employment (cont.)
• Work Activity Program (WAP) services through the Department
of DDS include paid work, work adjustment and supportive
habilitation services in a sheltered work shop setting.
• WAPs provide paid work in accordance with Federal and State
Fair Labor Standards. They are required to provide work at least
50% of the time.
• Work adjustment services may include developing good work
safety practices, money management skills, and appropriate
work habits.
• Supportive habilitation services may include social skill and
community resource training as long as the services are
necessary to achieve vocational objectives.
Residential Alternatives
• Group homes
– Provide family style living for a small group of individuals
• Foster homes
– As part of a family unit, the adult with disabilities also has
more opportunities to interact with and be accepted by the
community at large
• Apartment living
– Three types of apartment living arrangements:
• Apartment cluster
• Coresidence apartment
• Maximum-independence apartment
Residential Alternatives (cont.)
• Supported living
– Helping people with disabilities live in the community as
independently and normally as they possibly can
• Institutions
– Deinstitutionalization - the movement of people with MR out of
large institutions and into small, community-based living
environments - has been an active reality for the past 35 years
Recreation and Leisure
• Recreation and leisure activities do not come easily for
many adults with disabilities
• Special educators must realize the importance of including
training for recreation and leisure in curricula for schoolage children with disabilities