2nd article from Ft. Worth Star

[Guest guest]

Making the transition

By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

's eyes well with tears when she recalls the day she

realized her daughter couldn't read her own high school diploma.

She had expected Tamika, born three months premature, to have some

troubles learning, but she thought her " miracle baby " would catch up.

School would help make sure of that, she thought.

But when Tamika graduated in 1995, had to face the fact that

public schools don't always prepare students with disabilities for

life after high school - despite state and federal laws that say they

must.

That realization hits home for many parents of special- needs

children at this time of year. As they watch their children's former

classmates head to college or start careers, their sons and daughters

still struggle to learn basic reading and math skills.

" What's going wrong is nobody believes these students are going past

high school, " said Jan , head of transitional skills for

special- needs students at Tarrant County College. " They tend to

think you just deserve a rocking chair. "

State and federal laws require parents, teachers and government

agencies to work together to prepare students like Tamika for the

transition from high school to the real world, but they're not fully

enforced. All too often, the pieces don't fall into place, parents

and advocates said.

According to preliminary results from a study the Texas Education

Agency is conducting this year, almost 53 percent of recent special-

needs graduates said that they weren't involved in transition

planning and 20 percent said that high school was " somewhat to

completely unsuccessful " in preparing them for adulthood.

Schools are trying, but there are many obstacles, said Kandy

Aydelotte, director of special education in the Northwest school

district.

" Our responsibility to all children is to prepare them for the

future. We should be no less intent on that with special-education

children, " she said. " I think the law itself is very adequate. I

think the issue is the lack of funding for the agencies. "

Agencies that help students after high school, such as Mental Health

Mental Retardation, frequently have funding shortages that prevent

them from taking on new students, Aydelotte said.

Special-needs students must leave school before they turn 22 - even

if they don't have a fully developed transition plan, have not

mastered basic academic skills or are not trained to work.

Those who leave public school without a well- thought-out plan often

flounder. Many parents said they feel a tremendous pressure to find

their children a place in the world before they die or are unable to

care for them. Jobs must be secured, housing arrangements made and

other support lined up.

National studies show that about 25 percent of special- needs adults

have jobs, and that people with disabilities are three times more

likely than those without to live in households with annual incomes

below $15,000.

Tamika struggled to find a job, ultimately going to work for Goodwill

Industries of Fort Worth, where she has spent the past five years

sorting and pricing donated clothes.

While the job has been a blessing, Tamika, 27, is capable of doing

more, said.

" Right now, she doesn't have a choice, " she said.

said she feels guilty that her daughter graduated without

being able to read. She should have been more involved in Tamika's

education, she said, and should have demanded progress reports.

Tamika is capable, " just no one took the time, " said.

Many special-needs adults are in the same situation, said Delana

Pitts, a habilitator with Mental Health Mental Retardation of Tarrant

County who works with Tamika.

" Tamika is, unfortunately, the rule rather than the exception, " she

said.

If more special-needs students are to become self- reliant,

productive members of the community, parents need more guidance,

teachers need better training, government agencies need more money

and corporations need to be more aggressive in hiring people with

disabilities, advocates said.

" No one person is at fault. Nobody's the bad guy, " said

Nietupski, a regional transition project director for Iowa who is

pushing for laws that put more emphasis on transition planning. " I

just think we need to be more results-orientated. "

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires public

schools to start a formal transition planning process by the time

that special-needs students turn 16. Nearly every aspect of life -

career goals, housing arrangements, government assistance - is to be

addressed.

The Texas education code includes slightly stricter rules, but

neither set of laws is being followed to its fullest extent.

" Throughout the state, it is probably not working very well at all,

but we like to have it in law, " said Maxwell, a public policy

specialist with the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities.

A study conducted in 2000 by the National Council on Disability said

that 44 states don't comply with the requirements of the federal law.

And changes made to the Individuals with Disabilities Act in 1997 cut

more than $40 million that had been used for transition programs.

Just a little assistance can make a difference, Nietupski said.

Iowa, for example, started a program last year that helps high school

seniors and recent graduates explore career options, find internships

and secure jobs. During the first year, participants saw their

workload increase on average from 11 hours to 29 hours a week. Pay

increased from $281 to $933 a month.

Programs such as Iowa's make sense, said Debbie Wilkes, a transition

specialist with the school district. Without solid

transition planning, more than 12 years of effort can be wasted, she

said.

" Disabilities have become a platform, but not a value, " said Wilkes,

who has helped develop one of the top transition programs in the

state. " Our standards are going to have to be raised. "

's program eases students and their families into life

after high school.

After participants turn 18, they stop attending high school. They

train for jobs, audit classes at Richland Community College and work

toward other goals in their plans. teachers stay actively

involved, helping students learn life and job skills.

The program is a dress rehearsal for when students turn 22, Wilkes

said.

" Our goal is to figure out how to have inclusion in the community,

because inclusion in the school district is short- lived, " she said.

Sharon Larkin, a Southlake resident, knows that she must hurry to

secure a place in the world for her son Brady, 16, who has

developmental delays after being deprived of oxygen during delivery.

Brady, a freshman, is a trainer for the Carroll High School track

team, swims in Special Olympics events and is active with his church

youth group.

Most of those activities will vanish after Brady graduates, Larkin

said.

" I think it will get harder and harder. There will be fewer and fewer

groups where he'll be able to operate OK, " she said.

The daily challenges of raising Brady have been so overwhelming that

Larkin said she hasn't had time to think about transition planning

yet. She hopes to receive help from the Carroll school district and

government agencies.

" I can limp along on my own, and I don't have time to learn how to do

anything other than limp, " Larkin said. " I'm going to have to get

smart really fast. "

For some families, the transition process comes with great sacrifice,

especially in neighborhoods where there is no public transportation

and few group home-type settings for special-needs adults.

When Chad , 21, graduated from L.D. Bell High School in Hurst

two years ago, his mother, , realized she could no longer

work. Chauffeuring Chad, who has Down syndrome and cannot drive, to

and from a job at a Grapevine movie theater and classes at Tarrant

County College became a full-time commitment.

" It would have been nice to have had some community support for

transportation purposes for Chad so that I could have continued to

work maybe another year or so, " said. " But it wasn't a hard

decision to quit because I knew that Chad came first. "

Chad needs to have the self-respect and self- sufficiency that comes

with a job, she said. And he is doing well at Cinemark Tinseltown 17,

where his primary responsibility is keeping the floors popcorn-free,

theater manager Becky Askew said.

Regina Kropf of Colleyville is also giving 100 percent to her

daughter Lara, who has mild cerebral palsy.

Lara is working with a state habilitator to try to find a job. She

wants to work at a veterinary office, but her first interview was

unsuccessful.

" It didn't work out, " said 21-year-old Lara, who graduated from

Grapevine High School in 2000. " They thought it would be too hard for

me. I could have handled it. I felt like they didn't give me a

chance. "

Preparing for jobs is difficult for many special-needs students who

may not have been challenged at school, said Houg, lead

disabilities support counselor at Houston Community College, which

offers academic and vocational programs for students with

disabilities.

" The students themselves have not had to accept the responsibilities

and really have not had to do their studying, " he said. " They have

weak academic skills. "

Parents must do extra tutoring, and students must work three times as

hard as their counterparts, Houg said.

Houg recommends that parents mainstream their children in public

schools so that the focus stays on academics, rather than putting

them in special-needs " life skills " classes. Others say that life-

skills course work is the only way for students to gain the work

skills they so desperately need.

Parents must also have realistic expectations of their children's

futures, experts said.

" It's really hard for them, " said Carole Keeney, coordinator of

special populations for Houston Community College.

But often, students can find more appropriate jobs in the field they

are interested in, she said.

Grapevine resident Jan 's son, , 21, wants to be a disc

jockey. Right now, he does filing work at a Dallas radio station.

said she will do everything she can to make sure can

achieve his goals.

" If it doesn't happen, it means that it really couldn't happen, " she

said.

The primary goal for and other special-needs adults is to be

self-sufficient, she said.

" My hope is that he'll be just like any other person - be productive

and happy and satisfied, " said.

Students must be given the training and support to find their place,

she said.

Tamika said that once she finally learns to read and count money, she

knows where she'd like her place to be - at the grocery store where

she worked in high school as a sacker.

Then, sacking groceries was too hard. But Tamika said that with the

help of her mother and a habilitator, she soon may be ready to be a

cashier.

" One day, my Mom can come in the store, and she can come to my cash

register, and I can count money for her, " Tamika said.

Radcliffe, (817) 685-3875

jradcliffe@...