Listen to thisA survey of 254 transition programs across North America – and visits to nine of them – examine their values, supports, and services and identify the seven best practices that all effective programs have in common.
Although the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1990;
1997) has provided a national man-
date to help high school students
with disabilities grow into independent adults, youth with emotional and
behavioral difficulties continue to experience considerable problems
moving into adult roles. Their adjustment into socially acceptable adult
roles has been examined in a number of follow-up and follow-along
studies. This research consistently shows that many of these young
people achieve only a few of the critical post-school outcomes
identified by Will (1984), Halpern (1985), and others (Clark, Unger, &
Stewart, 1993; Davis & Vander Stoep, 1996):
The human and societal costs of these young people’s journeys into adulthood are enormous. Increased attention needs to be focused on developing and implementing integrated systems that facilitate their vocational, social, and community transitions (Clark & Foster-Johnson, 1996).
Best Practices in Nine Transition Programs
To identify the best practices in transition programs for youth with emotional and behavioral difficulties (ages 16-22), Clark and Stewart (1992) conducted a survey of 254 transition programs across North America, visiting nine of them in order to examine their values and practices. Although the transition programs studied presented a wide range of supports and services, seven common crucial features were identified (Clark & Foster-Johnson, 1996; Clark et al., 1993):
1. Consumer-Centered Orientation
In these nine consumer-centered programs, staff encouraged youth to take an active role in planning their transition to work and adult community life by allowing them to make decisions regarding their futures. For example, the young people served by these programs often determined who would participate in their transition processes. Family members, friends, coworkers, therapists, church members, etc., were invited to join together to create a natural support system to help the youth reach their goals. In addition, the young person’s skills, strengths, preferences, cultural values, limitations, and personal goals were used to guide educational opportunities, pre-employment experiences, and employment. This focus clearly increased interest, involvement, and self-determination for the young people.
For example, at one of the programs we visited, Jose Sanchez, a 17
-year-old, strong, tall, Hispanic young man, had not been in school
since he was arrested three months before. Jose had been in and out of a
variety of out-of-home placements since he was eight years old. Released
to a foster home in his home town of San Antonio, Jose had been mandated
by the judge to return to school and keep out of trouble.
Throughout
his multiple placements and incarcerations, Jose had always managed to
keep the ten-speed bicycle he had purchased three years ago with money
given to him by his Aunt Rosie. Jose had maintained his bicycle in
excellent condition despite the miles he had put on it.
A transition specialist at Jose’s new school worked with him on identifying his interests and skills and on expressing them at his transition planning meeting. His team was very supportive of his interest in mechanics. With the team’s encouragement, Jose joined a school-to-work program that taught skills for repairing bikes and small engines. The transition specialist helped him find an after-school job opportunity that required these new skills and helped him prepare for the interview. Now, along with his school activities, Jose works at a bicycle shop in his neighborhood.
2. Community Inclusion Environments
Effective transitions to the world of work and adult community life were clearly enhanced in programs that helped youth acquire community-relevant skills. It was important for these youth to learn how to function in the mainstream of the community beside regular students, community members, and coworkers. In the nine programs visited, such environments included practicum experiences in a competitive work environment, school-sponsored work experiences, community-based instruction, apartment living, and after-work social activities with co-workers.
Community businesses and industries were also a tremendous partner in the transition programs when their youth were ready to enter the labor market. In addition, the businesses’ unique needs were often met by these interested young people. For example, at the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities (Tilson, Luecking, & Donovan, 1994), a school-to-work program, employer representatives worked closely with youth who had experienced difficulties in order to place and support them in corporate-sponsored internships. Such internships provided the young people with work experiences that helped them gain the skills and experience necessary to seek competitive employment later in life.
3. Comprehensive Supports and Services
An array of individualized supports and services is essential during the transition from school to the world of employment and independent living. The supports and services provided by the model programs visited were thus arranged to support the young person in four different transition domains: employment, educational opportunities, living situation, and community life (see figure).
For example, in the employment domain, the nine programs provided a variety of work opportunities as well as employment support (e.g., employment in a large hotel or in a park with a coworker identified as a training mentor). Similarly, in the domain of community life, supports and services were provided in different settings by various supportive individuals, including the youth’s natural support system. For example, a live-in aunt taught her nephew how to cook at home; a teacher helped her students establish an Internet users’ group; and a case manager helped a young person obtain the necessary financial means to move into an apartment.
These supports and services were most effective when they were individualized, flexible, and reflected the changing needs of the young person.
4. Continuity from a Consumer’s Perspective
Continuity of support is essential during the transition to adult living, especially when a young person turns 18 and must begin to access adult services. To provide such continued services across all of the transition domains, a variety of interagency linkages and collaborative structures are required. For example, in some programs that were visited, transition specialists or case managers assigned to transitional youth were employed half-time in children’s mental health and half-time in adult mental health so they had authority to work in both arenas. In other communities, regional and state-level interdepartmental teams were formed to coordinate available resources and to resolve issues related to specific individuals.
However, in the programs visited, continuity was best achieved from the consumer’s perspective when the program focused on establishing the young person as his or her own “life manager,” teaching self-advocacy and related skills that allowed him or her to function as independently as possible. Hand in hand with this focus was the agencies’ development of reliable natural social support systems. In many cases, these supports were the only ones that continued after managed care had pulled its funding.
5. Unconditional Safety Net of Support
Another crucial feature identified in some of the programs was their unconditional safety net of support. These service providers had made the decision that they would not deny services to any youth under any circumstances, but rather adapt their supports and services as necessary. This commitment was a powerful expression by staff of their hopefulness and a positive affirmation of the young person’s worth and merit.
Kaleidoscope, a youth development program in Chicago, was one program that exemplified this no eject/no reject policy. The program made an unconditional commitment to transitional youth with emotional and behavioral difficulties by accepting referrals based on the community’s determination of who was to be admitted, and by unfailingly adjusting services and supports based on the current and future changing needs of each individual. Kaleidoscope did not punitively discharge any of the youth involved in their transitional program. Although a few youth decided to leave the program on their own, and others left due to contingencies such as criminal convictions that involved prison terms, administrators and staff at Kaleidoscope “stuck with” the youth they served, “no matter what.”
6. Skill Development
Although vocational training and career development often predominate
in transition programs, other community life skills also need to be
taught, including problem solving, communication, daily living,
money
management, personal hygiene, housekeeping, emotional/behavioral
self-management, and social development. Numerous curricula on the
market offer a variety of models and strategies for teaching such
prevocational and life skills.
However, these approaches often do not account for the diversity of individual needs of transitional youth. To avoid this deficit, the nine programs provided instruction in natural community environments, such as integrated work sites, apartments, and shopping malls, to teach these important skills most effectively and functionally.
For example, transition specialists in several of the programs visited actually helped transitional youth establish themselves in apartments in the community. They helped them select the apartment, furnish it, and obtain necessary kitchen appliances, hygiene supplies, and cleaning materials. As the young person moved into the apartment, the transition specialists taught and reinforced such skills as budgeting, shopping, cooking, cleaning, and getting along with neighbors.
7. Outcome Orientation
Finally, all of the programs visited exhibited an outcome orientation that emphasized three features: consumer outcomes, system responsiveness, and system effectiveness (VanDenBerg, Beck, & Pierce, 1993). Limited resources, new legislative mandates, and changing views about the needs for ongoing services for youth during transition all indicate the need for increased evaluation of programs and youth outcomes. Service providers who were interested in and responsive to such evaluation data seemed to be more effective than those who were not involved in monitoring outcomes.
For example, the school attended by Jose, the young man previously described in this article, went the extra mile to track outcomes. Not only did this program monitor Jose’s outcomes closely (he only partially met his academic goals, but was successful in achieving each of his employment and independent living goals), the program also aggregated such outcomes data on a regular basis to determine how the program was doing overall. These data on goal completion were tracked across the transition domains of employment, educational opportunities, living situation, and community life.
Best Practices Are Not Enough
To “make it” as adults is particularly difficult for youth with emotional and behavioral challenges. Many encounter economic hardship, instability, and dependence when they leave school to enter the world of employment and independent living. The consequences of being set adrift during this transition can be tragic if these young people are left without social or independent living skills and community support. To be effective, professionals and community members must address the complex, multiple, and interrelated needs of this population across the four transition domains of employment, educational opportunities, living situation, and community life.
Transition systems based on the seven best practices identified above will clearly be more effective in addressing these youths’ needs than those that are not.
However, adopting best practices alone may not be enough to ensure successful transitions. In addition, alternative methods of providing post-secondary and vocational training need to be developed in order to expand the vocational and academic options of youth with emotional and behavioral difficulties. Greater collaboration among required supportive resources and services also needs to occur (Clark & Foster-Johnson, 1996). And finally, further research and development efforts must be undertaken to address critical issues faced by youth and young adults in their crucial transitions from school to adult living. These systemic developments, in conjunction with best practices, may be what are required to ensure more successful transitions like Jose’s.
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From: Reaching Today’s Youth Vol.2 No.4 pp44-48. NES.
