Director/Principal: Nancy Neugebauer, EdD Next Stop Life: North East Transition Services (NETS) North East Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas 3736 Perrin-Central, Bldg. 1 San Antonio, TX 78217 210.637.4950 Director/Principal: Nancy Neugebauer, EdD nneuge@neisd.net

North East Transition Services Age-Appropriate Learning Environments for Adults 18 Through 21

Leaving High School All students have questions What will I do? What kind of job would be a good one for me? Is college in my future? Where will I live? How will I get to work or school? These are questions all students have, but the challenges are greater for students with cognitive disabilities. (Cognitive disabilities is the term many states use and not MR, etc.)

NETS: North East Transition Services It is a Service and Not a School

North East Transition Services (NETS): Mission Work with students and parents to develop and support Employment Postsecondary Education Independent Living Transportation Socialization Accessing Community Services Handouts: do you have any NETS brochures you can bring?

Adult Life Connections Vocational Volunteer Work Work-based Learning Paid Employment Community Adult Services Community Facilities and Resources Transportation Postsecondary Education Continuing Ed/Certificates Training Independent Living Skills

What NETS can do: Train on using public transportation Assist in scheduling student activities Assist in accessing adult services Monitor job sites and job coach Collaborate with employers Assist with career development Teach skills for community inclusion Facilitate access to colleges Assist with job training opportunities

Developing Community-Based Services Age-appropriate Learning Environments for Students 18 Through 21

NETS: The Idea Concerns Solutions 20 year olds on high school campus with 14 year olds Sudden change from bell schedule to non-structured adult life Transition services looked too traditional Solutions Find age appropriate environments Design the school day to look like a day in the life of an adult Design a non-traditional instructional day which meant non-traditional services In this slide describe how NETS came about. What were the concerns or reasons that NETS was created.

NETS Location of instruction Age-appropriate instructional environments Work environments Learning environments Public transportation Community sites: restaurants, stores, etc. Describe how ya’ll decided not to locate the NETS program on the high school campus but to select a non-traditional location. Explain that it is not a location with classrooms that student’s go to. They may not go at all or only for a short time for a meeting. If you were there today, you might not see any students as they left their homes on public transportation or with parents to go to jobs or college or to other activites. OR their might be one student meeting with their teacher almost like an adult who goes to the Department of Labor Employment center. Or there might be several students meeting there as a central location to go to lunch.

LOOKS MORE LIKE AN EMPLOYMENT OFFICE THAN A SCHOOL LOCATION! NETS The NETS Building (school) Houses staff and records Students go only for: Assessment Planning meeting with staff Central meeting location to meet with case managers LOOKS MORE LIKE AN EMPLOYMENT OFFICE THAN A SCHOOL LOCATION! Here describe more of what the NETS looks like (Might add a slide after this one with a picture of the office space with computers etc. that big open room that looks more like an employment center that a classroom would be good)

NETS Staffing and Scheduling Teachers and job coaches The role of employers/co-workers What about nights and weekends? Flex time Rotating weekends The schedule board Explain how ya’ll evolved to the flexible hours and what the schedule board looks like with the graphic that rotates for job coaches as they share nights and weekends. One of the job coaches told me that she always volunteered because her kids were grown and that gives some of the others time with family who still need it. Handout: do you have a copy of the staffing schedule?

Training Must be: On-going Broad and specific Related to facilitating postsecondary goals Involve community services and networking Collaborative Talk about the district training. Broad training is more the general and traditional training on disabilities, services, and transition. Specific is more related to the non-traditional function of the school. Knowing the agencies, what they do,and how to have personal working relationships with the agencies and their staff is key to your success. Problem-solving such as the transition folder reviews, transition matrix, and person-centered planning. Also key: the student population changed, higher expectations evolved, and the first structure of staffing no longer worked. Brought in consultant to look at systems change (Karen).

Making it Work Tools and Strategies for Non-Traditional Learning Environments for Students 18 Through 21

Transition Assessment Don’t Reinvent the Wheel Data from the high school years ESTR (Enderle-Sevenson Transition Rating) Student/parent surveys Interest inventories Data collection in the community Employment Transportation Tell them to be sure to get the info from high schools. Don’t re-do all of the testing. Provide enhanced services and continue services. Don’t retread old ground. Collect data: ecological inventories, task analysis, etc. Make data-driven decisions

Outcomes for Graduating Class of 2007 Employment Home Living Rec/Leisure Community Post-Sec Ed Total

The Transportation Connection Enrolling in public transportation Who pays for the bus? Transportation training The parent/family role Increasing independence Ensuring safety Do you have anything on transportation training? If not, don’t create it.

Employment Work-based learning in high school Vocational assessment Making a good job match Job training Supported employment The role of the parent/family Try with each of these to explain the parent role and how you try to build capacity in parents otherwise the day after graduation is a big shock.

Volunteer Work The role of volunteer work in adult life and transition services Opportunity to help the community Caution: this does not replace employment training or paid employment The role of volunteer work and that it is supplemental to work and plays a small role and not a big role-- just like for any other adult

Agency Partnerships Alamo Area Council of Government (AACOG) Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) Department of Labor/Texas Workforce Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Other – including private organizations Please print the name of AACOG on the first line Here talk briefly about how ya’ll connect parents. You don’t just give names and telephone numbers but actually go with students/parents and or take them to the meeting. The follow-up to be sure they get connected. We won’t put DARS because other states simply call it Rehabilitation Services Under Other: write anything else, for instance the ARC, etc.

Family Issues The obvious: SSI and employment When the family wants day habilitation services and not employment Information and training for parents Family to family networking The final decision for life after public school belongs to the family. Talk about the day habiliation dilemma. We would all like for day hab not to be where students go. Try to help parents understand and feel comfortable with other options. Connect families to other families who have walked in their shoes so the risks don’t seem so large or so abstract. If the parent still wants day hab, then what can be done to make it a successful placement. NETS works with day hab and trains staff on student and strategies learned. Joint funds and gradually turns over funding to parents prior to graduation. Helps to look at transportation and financial assistance related to day hab and parent need.

Person-Centered Planning Why Teach parents a problem-solving process Provide solutions to unanswered questions Develop a system of support for the family When There are concerns that need a non-traditional strategy The family has few supports or needs input from someone other than the school staff How Personalized location: home, church, etc. Planning membership Only 1 or 2 school staff present ** Personalizing the PCP Process 2 or 3 pages with the tools developed last year when the staff took Debbie’s process and personalized it to their own. Let me know if you want me to bring this one. I have the drafts I sent back to Jennifer and group

Ensuring Effectiveness Transition Planning Matrix Is the student ready? Have we addressed all of the areas of transition? Do we have paid and natural supports in place? Will the day after graduation bring life to a halt...OR...have we provided effective transition services? Vickie-- I will include the transition planning matrix we developed last year. I have a one page matrix that shows an example and non-example

Transition Planning Matrix Stetson and Associates, Inc.; Houston, Texas

Monitoring Progress Transition Planning Matrix Used to identify services completed and service gaps Can evaluate gaps for each student Can identify systems problems Transition Monitoring Chart Identify the status within each transition service Develop steps needed to improve the transition service to ensure meaningful connections to postsecondary goals

Transition Services Monitoring Chart I will bring this form also Transition Services Monitoring Chart Stetson and Associates, Inc.; Houston, Texas

Lessons Learned

The Things We Would Keep: Flexible staffing, hours Consultative services from transition specialists Off school campus Age appropriate environment Community based environment

Flexibility is Key! Every year is different. Every student is different. Federal and state laws change. Funding and resources change. Technology and research improves services. Stay informed and be flexible. Help participants to understand this is a fluid process. Assessment tools are improved or become more available in a technology format, families have increasingly higher expectations, sometimes their goals do not match our goals (ie Day Hab) . Because it works this year does not mean it will work next year. We must change with students, families, and the communities in which we live if we want to prepare student’s for meaningful adult lives.

Contact Information North East Transition Services 3736 Perrin-Central, Bldg. 1 San Antonio, TX 78217 210.637.4950 Director/Principal: Nancy Neugebauer, EdD nneuge@neisd.net