JAASEP SPRING/SUMMER 2009 Part 5 of 9
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According to an article found in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch entitled, Program Provides Work, Meaning for Disabled Students Transition, ‘Inclusion’ Offer Challenge to Many (Selbert, 1993), the author described a program that was unique in helping students with moderate/severe disabilities transition by including them in general education classes and job training three days a week. Working at some local businesses two times a week for a couple hours a day was the other part of the program. The goal of the program was to demonstrate that the students were “employable” upon graduation.
The article described one student, Monica, out of seven who was in this program and was severely retarded and blind. Her parents had moved all the way from Maryland just to participate in the program since they could not find any others like it at the time. The district finds employers who are willing to train the students and the district provides staff that supports the students. In Monica’s case she was found a job folding napkins in a local restaurant.
Abstract
Under United States federal law, students who are in special education are guaranteed the right to attend school, but their education will vary depending upon their disability and their independent goals that are developed in a contract between the school and the parents called an Individual Educational Plan or IEP. Students with moderate/severe disabilities are guaranteed within their IEP a section that is devoted to helping them to transition from entitlement to eligibility services. This section is called the Individual Transition Plan or ITP. Ideally, these students are working on life, social, and work skills that will help them to take care of themselves as independently as possible. However, for most people who are unfamiliar with this population there are questions: (1) Why are we preparing students with moderate/severe disabilities for employment? (2) What is the curricular sequence of preparation for employment? (3) What are the common roadblocks? (4) Are there any possible solutions? and (5) What are the ideal solutions? This paper looks to answer these questions by looking at available research articles that have dealt with these issues in the past, as well as the author’s own past experiences working with the moderate/severely disabled in a Special Education Class for the past four years.