Postsecondary Transition For Youth with ASD in Maine

1. Postsecondary Transition For Youth with ASD in Maine Peer to Peer Meeting Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs Mystic Connecticut, August 7-9, 2013

2. Maine State Professional Development Grant – Goal 5 • Maine DOE OSEP-funded five-year grant • To increase the percentages of SAU special education and related services personnel who can develop and implement effective, compliant transition plans and activities within timelines (IDEA Indicators B12, B13, and C8).

3. Family-Centered Transition Planningfor Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability University of Maine Center on Community Inclusion and Disability Studies

4. Participants • Age 16-18 (all levels of ASD) NH ME Total • Referral by Transition Coordinators / Special Educators following school administrator agreement to participate • Random assignment: • Year 1 Intervention 13 11 24 • Delay Control (Yr. 2) 14 9 23 • 47 • Both student and parent enrolled

5. Data Collection Student and Family Surveys • Family and Student Expectations for the Future (from National Longitudinal Transition Study) • ARC Self-Determination Inventory • Vocational Decision-Making Inventory Document Analysis of IEP Transition Plans Open-ended Family Interviews (9)

6. FCTP Components Parent Training (SPECS) 3 Saturdays Person-Centered Planning 5 - 9 in-home mtgs. Career Exploration 4 - 6 months

7. Parent Training • Orientation to adult service system – • Learning how to re-order thinking – asking, “What do you want?” before “How will you do it?” • Thinking about using services in new ways. • Planning tools that focus on the individual (strengths, support needs, skills, challenges and preferences).

8. Person-Centered Planning • Who is the person? • Individuals to include in planning process. • Individual preferences (general, employment, home, learning, choice-making)

9. Person-Centered Planning (2) • Scheduling – routines – what would a perfect day look like and include? • What is the vision or what are the dreams of the individual (incorporate information from above tools/planning) • Action plan – what do you do with the information generated in planning meetings?

10. Career Exploration • What have we learned about preferences, especially the employment preferences for the person? • Networks, connections uncovered in planning process? (relationships) • Interests and motivators discovered?

11. Career Exploration (2) • Consider variety of approaches (workplace visits, job shadowing, volunteering, internships). • How to use learning that happens through career exploration – (what did student like/successful – dislike/unsuccessful?) • Learning from both failures and successes.

12. Survey Results Significance of differences between pre and post mean scores: FCTP Control t p t p Student Expectations 2.55 .01 1.09 .16 Parent Expectations 2.32 .02 0.51 .31 Self-Determination 5.58 .00 1.65 .06 Vocational Decision-Making 2.66 .01 0.64 .27

13. Impact on Transition Plans Statement of Transition Services Review Protocol (STSRP) • • Evidence of various IEP components • (e.g. list of team members, systematic data collection, type of diploma) • Quality of goals in 11 Transition Domains • (e.g. employment / voc. training, post-secondary ed., independent living, recreation / leisure) Total possible points = 224

14. Analysis of IEPs FCTP Control IEP Rating Score 1: 30.35 Score 1: 29.74 Score 2: 39.53 Score 2: 32.53 p = .048 p = .100

15. Family Interviews • Project was useful and important • -- kept families on track; parceled out transition into discrete tasks • -- modeled tenacity and perseverance in working towards goals • -- helped connect families to other supportive people • • The planning process was growth-enhancing for students • -- learned to advocate for oneself and take an active role in planning • -- feelings of discomfort were slight, and played a positive role: “Nobody grows up without a little bit of tension.”

16. Family Interviews cont’d • • Families became more clearly aware of student strengths and potential. • -- accomplishments many parents “had trouble imagining” [driver’s license, drive to the Prom with date, meaningful job skills, college classes] • • Families learned to “think outside the box” in accessing resources. • -- typical resources, including friends, relatives, other community members, clubs and teams, and technology such as “i-pads. • -- formal resources used in nontraditional ways. [High school provided transportation to community college during last year]. • • Experiences with formal adult services were mixed, with some disappointing experiences with adult services.

18. Paid Internship at a College

19. Filming Experience

20. Graphic Arts Studio

21. Work Experience – Organic Farm

22. Red Tide Testing

23. Working in Greenhouse

24. Scanning Photos forMaine Memory Network

25. Family-Centered Transition Planning leads to significantly improved outcomes over traditional transition planning for individuals with ASD.

26. Sustainable Implementation 3-yr NIDRR Field-Initiated Development Project Blended Funding Contracts • Schools & DOE • Voc. Rehab. • Devel. Svcs. • Other? Independent organization hosts FCTP

27. Sustainable ImplementationFCTP - In Maine • Collaborating with Maine Medical Center Youth Employment Program. • Mentoring professionals from Maine Medical Center and other agencies in planning facilitation. • Working with advocacy organizations and school districts to develop Maine-based training curriculum for parents.

28. Sustainable Implementation FCTP - In Maine (2) • Working with Maine Vocational Rehabilitation to identify funding for planning component of project. • Working with Maine Vocational Rehabilitation to identify VR counselors to work specifically with students in program.

29. Expanded Goals • Healthcare transition • Assistive Technology • Greater Influence on the Quality of School Transition IEPs

30. Sustainability • Development of a Maine-Based Curriculum in Collaboration with agencies ,school districts, parent advocacy organizations, and self-advocates. • Curriculum Additions: • Health Care Transition • Use of Assistive Technology to Promote Employment, Independent Living, Community Participation and Management of Own Health Care