On the whole, the conference was as I expected, although the session entitled "What do I do now that I'm out of High School?" was constructive. It covered a project working within colleges to integrate people with developmental disabilities. It's not clear how truly integrative the project has been but the outcomes they tracked demonstrate that the project seems beneficial. If the consortium working on that project presses, improves and changes, integration might grow within it.
For those who asked why I listed Limericist as my title, I answer:
When you preach to the choir from the dais
Always make sure what you say is
What they want to hear
Or at least as near
As you can so you don't end up payless.
4 comments:
The presentation on the IL course of study at Taft Community College was also the one which got my attention. While the TIL students are isolated in the same sense that the students in the dental hygine program or the nursing program or the PT program are isolated -- which is in the nature of things at the college level, especially when a vocational curriculum is involved -- they are also card-carrying members of the student body, holding all attendant rights and privileges, e.g. to eat and socialize in the cafeteria, attend and socialize at athletic events and encounter student peers walking the quad. I'm so impressed with TIL that I've already urged my wife -- who happens to be ideally qualified for the task -- to apply for the position at our community college to start up a similar two-year course of study in independent living. Continuing on in the grove of academe after high school is a major breakthrough opportunity for people served in our developmental services system. The thing which also impressed me was that it was all done within the existing framework of regional center service codes and was structured within an academic framework, like any other college level course of study. Just as folks in Kern County created a way of avoiding the medical model trap into which many fall who need on-going physical therapy, coming up with "Mobility Options Via Education" 15 or 20 years ago, they've done it again with the Taft Independent Living program, side-stepping traditional DD system approaches and casting the effort in terms of an educational curriculum. MOVE was copied all over the world. I predict the same for TIL.
Well, howdy, Bruce. It was good to see you the last couple days. I agree with you. Some of the value is the principle of there being more than one ways to skin a class. The more ways there are for people to learn independence the more people will learn it.
I appreciated Mike's statement that "this is not the answer," and I agree but its better to have alternative approaches, and TIL offers one.
I'd have spelled that TILL so I'm glad you showed before I did.
Hmmm...
Hm?
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