Community organizations work to help students with disabilities live and work independently

Editor's note: This is the final installment in a four-part series on special education in southeast Iowa.

As school districts work to provide more community resources for students, local organizations have stepped in to assist those students as they enter the next stages of adulthood.

Tammy Burlingame, Vice President of Community Services at Advance Employment Services of WCDC, Inc., said the organization is in its second year of a program that assists students who are transitioning from school to home to work. Heather Anderson, Job developer/ Employment Specialist at Advance Employment Services of WCDC, Inc. said the school approached the organization about the program because it wanted to provide options and choices for students.

'Where the school's able to assist with kids who have lower level disabilities, we have kids with level three disabilities that are a little bit beyond the school's skills and we know how to get to them into the workforce,” she said.

Burlingame said students in special education programs at the school are split into three levels, with level one requiring the lowest level of support and level three requiring the most. Most often the level three students need this service the most and the organization is happy to work with them because they deserve the chance to work just like anyone else, she said.

'What we would like to do is change that mind-set that just because they have a higher level of disability that they can't work. We'll find an employer that fits their needs,” she said.

Any student is welcome to enter the program regardless of what level they are on, she said. Burlingame said the goal is to not limit the system to any one group but be open to all students.

Anderson said the program works based on a referral from the school and they are entered into a preemployment transition program. She said the program is designed to reach the students before they step into the world and help them through the transition of high school student to working adult.

Students spend the first three quarters of the year working on skills to determine their likes and dislikes. At the end of the school year they do career exploration, a community based learning experience that allows students to visit different employers.

Anderson said the goal is allow students to tour and see the local job market as well as interview with employers. She said students enjoy it because it creates a way for them to see what jobs are available and that WCDC will work to help them find a job they enjoy and can be successful in.

'We want them to keep thinking bigger and make informed choices,” she said.

Other community organizations in the area work to assist these individuals as well. Angie Torres, Optimae Lifeservices Regional Director for Henry, Lee, Louisa and Des Moines counties said the multiple community services the organization offers have seen great success.

Torres said one of those services is home support, where individuals can choose to have someone with them. She said it can be as minimal as having someone stop in for a few hours to having someone live with then 24/7.

She said the goal of the program is to include the individual in their own life plan by helping them choose what they want to do and encouraging choice empowerment. Another program she oversees in Burlington, Mt. Pleasant and Keokuk is the community integration program.

She said it's designed around outings, such as going to a Burlington Bees game or to a movie, and helps the client learn to cope with being able to make those decisions on their own. Confidence and feeling more relaxed in a social situation can result from these, she said.

Burlingame echoed that, saying the employment program at WCDC also assists with self esteem and confidence. She said anytime one of their clients gets employed, there is an immediate positive change in their demeanor. Anderson said the communication and social skills of students has increased drastically because they are not more comfortable in the environments.

'It feels like the biggest fear is that they're going to have a (negative) behavior, but being out in the community working helps them figure out ... how to conform to society and figure out what's right and wrong. In the long run it creates success at home and in employment and it makes it a lot less scary for them,” she said.

Anderson said once the student graduates the program, WCDC ensure Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services (IVRS) is involved so the student has a successful transition from school to work life. From there the student can help identify what job they would like and be assigned a job coach that will help them through the process. Anderson said that people role is to act as an accommodation to the client to help them be successful.

She said her role as a job developer is to find an employer that will hire the individual based on the individuals need. She said some students only feel comfortable with 75 percent of the job and the other 25 percent is a goal that needs to be worked toward.

Once that person is hired the job coach goes along to assist them with the rest. She said the assistance can range from reading and writing to quality control and allows the individual to learn at their own pace without putting added stress on the employer.

'They need extra training, so this way it takes the pressure off a supervisor or a manager if they need more time to train,” she said, explaining the eventual goal is to make the employee feel comfortable enough to be able to work without the job coach by their side.