Graduation is looming. What comes next?

Graduation signs and university banners have been popping up all over our neighborhood.  Local students are taking one step further towards starting their adult lives.  Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities grow up and move on, too. 

Project SEARCH or a similar work-based learning program.  Project Search is a collaboration between certain school districts, one or more adult disability service provider agencies, and one or more employers in the same area.  For example, in my home location in Chicago’s near-southwest suburbs, Project Search involves the LaGrange Area Department of Special Education (LADSE), the Illinois Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Helping Hand Center (an adult services agency), the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, and AMITA Health Adventist LaGrange Medical Center as one set of worksites and the Brookfield Zoo as another.  Students may apply to join Project SEARCH for the last year that they will be within the public school system.  Project SEARCH places the students in intensive internships within various departments at the respective employer partner.  Students may intern in more than one department to gain broad work experience.  At the end of the program, the Project SEARCH team endeavors to place the students in competitive employment in the community although not necessarily at the partner employer.

An Inclusive Post Secondary Education (IPSE) Program.  A number of colleges and universities around the country have opened IPSE programs.  Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), who are enrolled in IPSE programs, learn alongside neurotypical peers.  Students with I/DD may be enrolled for audit, pass/fail, or credit in undergraduate, continuing education, or adult-enrichment courses.  Coursework and course expectations are modified.  IPSE programs typically include courses that build employment-related skills as well as work-based learning.  Some IPSE programs also include courses that build life and/or social skills.  Students with I/DD are encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities alongside neurotypical peers, and some IPSE program offer the opportunity to live on campus.  Certain IPSE programs are designated as “Comprehensive Transition and Postsecondary” (CTP) programs for students with intellectual disabilities, which means that students are eligible for Federal and sometimes state financial aid.

University with support from a neurodiversity program.  Neurodiversity programs are designed for degree-seeking students who are able to handle typical undergraduate courses with readily available accommodations, but who also need significant support in the areas of executive functioning and social interaction.  Students with average or above average intellectual functioning and diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and other learning differences may be good fits for these programs.  Unlike IPSEs, neurodiversity programs do not modify curricula or degree requirements.  The programs often involve individualized plans of study, regular check-ins with trained program-support staff, program-specific study tables, access to study spaces that accommodate sensory needs, and may also include organized social and recreational activities.  An example of a neurodiversity program in my home state of Illinois is the Pathways Collegiate program at Aurora University.

Community college, technical school or university with support from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.  Students, who have disabilities other than intellectual or neurodevelopmental who want to pursue technical certification or 2-year or 4-year degrees, may need support and resources from their state’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.  Once a prospective postsecondary student opens a case, a vocational rehabilitation counselor will help the student create an Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE), which starts from the student’s employment goal and works backward to determine the postsecondary educational credentials required to achieve the goal.  The Division will generally pay some or even all of the student’s tuition and fees as well as fund personal support workers for students who require such support to accomplish activities of daily living.  Funding may also be available to cover assistive technology and other specialized equipment that the student requires to be successful. 

Employment with support from an adult disability service provider agency.  Many adult disability service providers offer employment support.  Such services may include pre-employment skill building in a classroom or simulated work setting.  One example of the latter in my home state of Illinois is the Harry and Jeanette Weinburg Career Academy of Aspire Chicago.  The Academy trains workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities in environments that simulate real work setting in food service, hospitality, healthcare, information technology, office management, retail, warehouse, and commercial industry.  Adult service provider agencies may also help place workers in supported employment with a job coach or in a job that was “carved” out for a worker’s specific interests and capabilities.  Some provider agencies also develop and manage teams of workers in custodial, janitorial, and other jobs.  The agency then contracts with outside employers who need these services.        

From a financial planning perspective, each of these postsecondary pathways provides access to or requires different resources.  Project SEARCH and other transition-age work-base learning programs are generally fully funded by a school district or a special-education cooperative and the state’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.  IPSE programs are generally funded by the student and her/his family, but the student may be able to access resources from her/his state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation or discretionary financial assistance from the institute of higher education itself.  In some states, students with intellectual and developmental disabilities can use Medicaid Wavier funding to cover part of their IPSE costs.  CTP programs offer students with an eligible financial situation to access federal and sometimes state financial aid.  Students with disabilities, who pursue traditional technical certification or 2- or 4-year degree program, will have access to the same financial aid opportunities as the general student population and may have part of their education funded by their state’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, depending on their specific employment goals and support needs.  Neurodiverse students, who enroll in a traditional degree program with additional supports and services, may incur additional out-of-pocket cost to pay for those services.  Pre-employment and employment supports through an adult disability service provider are generally funded by enrolling the worker in a Medicaid Wavier but may also access private payment from workers who are not eligible for a Medicaid Waiver at the time they seek services.

Students with disabilities, like all students, must develop a plan for life after secondary school.  Students and their families will want to consider whether and how they will benefit from additional formal education, work-based learning, employment, or some combination of the three, or progression through all three.  Then, students and their families will want to consider the resources they will need to either access or contribute to complete their plan.