Families Helping Families

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GREAT NEWS for parents of students 14 years of age and older!!!

If your specials needs teenager is high functioning and diploma bound but still doesn’t have age appropriate social and emotional skills, do we have a program for you!

Do you worry at night that when your child graduates from high school, that they won’t be ready for the employment market, college or trade school or independence?

Does your child's school address your their academic needs but neglects to provide them with sufficient levels of support and services to properly address their social skills, independent functioning skills, independent living skills, community engagement skills and community integration skills?

If the answers to these questions are YES, then please read this excerpt from the law:

http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/lawsandregs/sect2001.htm

    200.1(fff)    Transition Services means a coordinated set of activities for a student with a disability, designed within a results-oriented process, that is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the student with a disability to facilitate the student's movement from school to post-school activities, including, but not limited to, post-secondary education, vocational education, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation.  The coordinated set of activities must be based on the student's strengths, preferences and interests, and shall include needed activities in the following areas:
    (1)    instruction;
    (2)    related services;
    (3)    community experiences;
    (4)  the development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives; and
    (5) when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and provision of a functional vocational evaluation.
 

Now that you have read the law, you understand that transition services are your child’s right. The truly unfortunate thing is that the DOE does not really provide a program or a service to address these needs and rights of our high functioning children. Sadly, if your children were NOT diploma bound, the DOE has transition services for them. However, the DOE has NOTHING for the new generation of high academically achieving students with low to moderate social skills, who ARE diploma bound!

BUT, the really good news is, that there now IS an IEP driven program out there for your child’s transitional needs!

Through the collaborative efforts of very talented psychologists, speech pathologist, Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist, a Transition program has now been developed to teach the skills of independence, community living, and community engagement to your child!

This program will address the following areas of functioning:

                                                                     1) Independent living
                                                                     2) Community engagement and interaction (social skills)
                                                                     3) Health, Safety and Nutrition
                                                                     4) Movement, mobility and travel/transportation

These skill areas will be addressed through four different modalities, in separate group sessions and then with a combined modality approach for the fifth session. 


The specific goals that the group will be working on will be specific to the group participant’s individual needs; however, here is an example of the types of skills that might be worked on depending on the individual needs of the group participants:

TRANSITION GOALS

Communication Skills
 
1) The student will pause when approaching people, to see if they are in they are engaged in a task or conversation before he engages them.

2) When in contact or conversation with others, the student will recognize the non-verbal and verbal cues of when he is being overbearing or dominating the moment and will temper his discussion or interaction accordingly.

3) The student will be able to learn the strategies for making lists when given verbal instructions.

4) The student will learn how to state his specific needs within the community, i.e.: asking bus driver to alert him of his stop, ordering food items specifically such as, specifying an unseeded roll, “toasted” roll, or “hold” an item.

5) The student will be able to independently an appropriately make phone call inquiries regarding needs such as, employment opportunities, scheduling appointments, phone interview, the rental of an apartment, making purchases, arranging instillation or service, utility inquiries,  etc.

6) The student will answer questions about himself and his experiences in a realistic and truthful manner.

7) The student will be able to participate in an interview appropriately, he will listen to the interviewer appropriately, will not dominate the conversation and he will respond accurately and appropriately to what is asked.

8) The student will learn appropriate discretion in giving out personal information about himself, his family and others, to strangers, acquaintances, teachers, friends and classmates.

Independent Living Skills

9)  The student will gain an ability to develop realistic time management plans.

10) The student will gain a realistic understanding of the true value of money.

11) The student will gain an understanding of the true limits and access of money.

12) The student will be able to understand the budgetary monitoring and responsibilities required for independent living.

13) The student will learn to develop independently a realistic mock budget.

14) The student will gain a realistic perception of time and time passage.

15) The student will be able to independently develop time management plans and daily schedules to include school, work, leisure time and responsibilities

16) The student will explore adult leisure activities and get an understanding for what activities he enjoys and can feasibly and realistically participate in.

17) The student will learn how to independently and safely make basic meals that he enjoys to eat.

18) The student will be able to develop a simple, economical, weekly menu and will be able to develop a grocery list to fulfill it.

19) The student will learn where important facilities and municipalities are located in the community he lives in and he will learn how to get there and contact them (i.e.; Hospital, doctors office, dentist, police department, post office, bank, grocery stores, Mall etc)

20) The student will learn a realistic understanding of his health needs (routine medical and dental appointments and urgent care needs), and will recognize what is a serious health related concern that needs addressing by a health care professional and what isn’t (i.e.; bruises and scratches can be cared for at home, gashes and broken bones cannot).

Vocational Skills

21) The student will learn a realistic understanding of his current employment qualifications and employability.

22) The student will learn a realistic understanding of the requirements and precursor education, experience and training needed to attain his future employment goals.

23) The student will learn how to appropriately receive constructive criticism and/or correction.

Social Emotional

24) The student will be able to recognize and assume responsibility for his actions, regardless of his intents and apologize and rectify the problem.

25) The student will learn to utilize the various supports available to him and will seek assistance unprompted.

26) The student will decrease the animated and/or exaggerated way in which he acts and reacts in social situations.

27) The student will learn the appropriate volume to use when speaking and laughing.

28) The student will learn how to be an active, but silent listener.

29) The student will recognize, by the reaction of others when he behaves inappropriately

30) The student will not dominate conversation or interrupt with tangential off topic stories.

31) The student will learn how to have a conversation and not just retell stories.

32) The student will understand that being silly or odd is not an appropriate form of social interaction.

33) The student will learn to tell an authority figure when he is being picked on or made fun of.

34) The student will not allow peers to “dare” him or coax him into doing dangerous or inappropriate things just to be accepted.

35) The student will recognize the difference between a “friend” and a friendly acquaintance.

36) The student will recognize the non-verbal cues of when people do not wish to engage in conversation or interact with him.

Mobility and Transportation Goals

37) The student will learn how to get home from school by three different methods (i.e. two different bus routes and the train).

38) The student will learn the proper way to politely but expediently, disengage from contact with an unknown person who approaches him.

39) The student  will be able to successfully and independently use resources like MTA Trip Planner, Access NYC,
311, map quest, and bus maps to plan out local trips to school, employment, library, store, mall, grocery store, doctor’s, dentist, bank library or medical facilities, movie theater, bowling and other places of leisure activities, etc.

40) The student will be able to plan trips and local excursions, including time calculations for departure and arrival and the cost of transportation.

41) The student will be able to safely and independently travel to work, school, vocational program, bank, store, medical and dental appointments, stores, library and throughput the community.

42) The student will be able to learn age appropriate safety awareness skills and social/safety judgment skills.

43) The student will gain a realistic understanding and estimation of his true size, (with outerwear and back pack, and without), as well as recognizing the true spaces that he is ambulating in and around.

44) The student will recognize when he is in a high traffic area when ambulating and accordingly not stop suddenly or veer to the left or right without looking first.

45) The student will be aware of others ambulating around him and will accordingly, not “cut them off” or crash into them and recognize the personal space of others.

46) The student will be aware when he is bumping into people and he will pause and apologize.

47) The student will decrease self-stimulatory body and hand movements to a normalized appearance when standing still or speaking.

48) The student will assume a more normalized gate when walking, running and jogging.

  HEALTH, SAFETY AND HYGIENE

49) The student will gain a basic understanding of first aide and safety

49) The student will learn to identify a superficial injury versus a moderate injury versus a serious injury

50) The student will learn how to calmly address and care for each of the above mentioned concerns (self-care, a doctors visit, and ER visit)

51) The student will learn to identify when he is not feeling well and what the inappropriate course of action is (self care, doctor’s visit, ER visit)

52) The student will learn the proper way to politely be expediently disengage from contact with an unknown person who approaches him.

If you are interested in your child participating in this IEP driven program, please mail a copy of your child’s most recent IEP, their most recent evaluations and progress reports and most recent school report cards, with an accompanying cover letter detailing your primary transitional concerns for your child and contact information, to the following address:

    Families Helping Families
    Attention Transition Program
    112 Petrus Avenue
    Staten Island New York 10312

After a review of the requested information, you will be contacted to arrange an interview for your child with the program facilitators.

Sincerely,

Andrea Anna Lella