Building an Accessible Transportation Continuum for Students with Disabilities

1. Building a Continuum of Accessible Transportation for Students with Disabilities: Creating Linkages Across Pupil Transporters and Educators Judy L. Shanley, Ph.D. Director, Student Engagement & Mobility Management Donna Smith, Director of Training Easter Seals Project ACTION National Association for Pupil Transportation October 2012

2. Today’s Agenda • Overview of Easter Seals Project ACTION • Implementing Transportation Education • Travel Instruction Options • Using Creating Linkages Tool

3. Easter Seals Project Action (ESPA) • Mission: promote universal access to transportation for people with disabilities… • Supports the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) • Begun by Congress twenty three years ago to build bridges of understanding between the Transportation and Disability Community • Cooperative Agreement funded by the Federal Transit Administration and Administered by Easter Seals • Aligned with Easter Seals work to improve the lives of children, youth, and adults with disabilities

4. Four Functional Areas to Help Local Organizations Build Accessible Transportation Capacity • Training Events – travel training, webinars, online training • Technical Assistance – 800#, email, in-person coalition building events • Applied Research – fund catalyst and gap filling programs to stimulate academic inquiry and leverage new product development • Outreach – build awareness & create partnerships

5. Voices from Youth I feel like I am independent. I don’t need to depend on my mom and dad to take me places. Now I can ride the bus to get to my job and to the movies with my friends. Spontaneous Choice http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/183/183.pdf

6. Transportation education creates a culture, accompanied by a coordinated set of practices, to connect students, families, educators, pupil transporters, and public transportation professionals to create a system by which students have knowledge, access, and choice regarding a continuum of as they transition from school to postsecondary education, employment, and independent living settings

7. This is an Ideal Time to Focus on Transportation Education…. • From an Education Perspective • Resources devoted to college and career readiness • Emphasis on common core standards • Pressure on schools to graduate students • Students decreasing interest in driving • From a Transit Perspective • MAP-21 • Focus on coordination of resources across Federal sectors – mobility management • Environmental and health benefits

8. Building a Continuum of Transportation Education Intense Services -Travel Training; -Para transit eligibility -OT/PT/Behavioral Interventions • Moving up the Tiers • Less numbers of students • More defined service • Greater time & resource commitment • Specialized training and competence of providers Focused Transportation Assessments &Education -Travel Training Assessments -OT/PT Behavioral assessment -Travel Instruction - Familiarization • District-Wide Transportation Education • Provide professional development to educators around accessible transportation supports • Engage families and students in transportation education in early grades • Integrate transportation content across grade levels and curriculum (ELA, Math, geography, etc.) • Rely on transit for community-based experiences • Invite transit into schools and programs • Establish linkages across educators, pupil transportation, and public transportation sectors • Provide travel instruction - orientation

9. Building an Accessible Transportation Continuum for Students with Disabilities to Support Transition Students & Families Interconnected Systems and People http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/ http://www.napt.org/ www.nasdpts.org http://www.apta.com/ www.cec.sped.org http://www.dcdt.org/

10. Pupil Transporters can Work with Educators to Build Awareness around Transportation Education • Participate in education events • Share materials and transportation resources • Attend IEP meetings • Facilitate family-student summits • Conduct community resource mapping

11. Pupil Transporters and Educators can Work Together to Build Skills and Practice (for educators & students) • Provide professional development to colleagues • Assist students with skill development • Use vehicles as learning platforms • Understand and participate in travel instruction • Consider offering travel instruction • Orientation, familiarization, travel training

12. Travel Instruction Travel instruction is the array, continuum, or family of services offered to individuals with disabilities, seniors, and others who need assistance to increase their mobility and travel on public transportation independently. Association on Travel Instruction (ATI) - http://www.travelinstruction.org/index.html

13. Travel Instruction – Multi-tiered Process Think about your role as a pupil transporter, how can you contribute to: • Travel Orientation • Individual or group activity conducted for the purpose of explaining the transportation system. • Travel Familiarization • Individual or group activity to facilitate use of transportation systems with a travel trainer accompanying experienced traveler(s) on a new on a new mode of transportation or route to point out/explain features of access and usability.

14. Travel Training • One-to-one short-term instruction provided to an individual who has previously traveled independently and needs additional training or support to use a different mode of travel, a different route, mode of transit, or travel to a new destination - or - • One-to-one comprehensive, specially designed instruction in the skills and behaviors necessary for independent travel on public transportation provided to an individual who does not have independent travel concepts or skills to go from point of origin of trip to destination and back • http://www.travelinstruction.org/forms/ATIAugust2011DefinitionOfTravelTraining.pdf

15. Travel Training – Assessment Phase • Travel Assessment – Think about how you can contribute to the assessment process • Comprehensive • Classroom data • Performance data • Family data • Community data

16. Creating Linkages across Pupil Transporters and Educators Tool • How involved are you in education processes? • Can you use the yellow school bus as a learning platform for students to learn about public transit?

17. Orientation - Yellow School Buses as the First Step • Simulate public buses • Establish fare cards • Invite public transit drivers on school grounds • Develop schedules and route maps • Provide students/clients computer route maps • Mimic passenger alert systems on buses • Replicate social variance on bus • School Transportation News Online - http://www.stnonline.com/webcasts

18. ESPA Resources • www.projectaction.org • Travel Training Resources • Youth Initiative Resources • Accessible Transportation for Students Online Community • Share ideas and learn more about travel training for student populations: http://www.espa-ncst.communityzero.com/ats

19. Contact Information • Judy Shanley • jshanley@easterseals.com • 800-659-6428 • 202-403-8354 • Donna Smith • dsmith@easterseals.com • 800-659-6428 • 202-403-8349