Teach Practice Learn

I am a Job Coach for a NYC transition program with 180 days to maximize learning and employability for 12 high school seniors with special needs. I'm beyond excited and created this blog to connect, explore, and discuss.

[teachpracticelearn-blog]

Keep it simple

[teachpracticelearn-blog]

personal mission statement, maybe a good exercise to do with students

[autisticadvocacy]

[davidroads]

[kaitbabbling]

this is my favourite quote because it is sooo so true

[teachpracticelearn-blog]

What Is An Intellectual Disability?

Michael Lapaglia, MA, BCBA of Elite Behavior Analysis, LLC discusses the topic "What Is An Intellectual Disability?"

Excellent Description of Intellectual Disability and how Applied Behavior Analysis removes a barrier to enable individuals to reach social and cognitive milestones 

[teachpracticelearn-blog]

My "Goal Staircase" 

[teachpracticelearn-blog]

Let's Talk About Intellectual Disabilities: Loretta Claiborne at TEDxMidAtlantic

Loretta Claiborne, FEARLESS, Special Olympian, Speaker and Advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. 

"I have to have something in my mind, I put my strength and I put my faith and in god so that I can be fearless on behalf of all people with intellectual disabilities, so that one day I won't have a job to fight, that I won't have to be fearless, that one day I'll be able walk down the street and look at this person and think of them as a person, instead of person with a intellectual disability, but a person who's a part of your community and my community" 

[teachpracticelearn-blog]

Spirit moves them: Fitness program is tailored to people with developmental disabilities

Spirit (“Social Physical Interactive Respectful Inclusive Teamwork”) offers encouragement and empathy.

Awesome Fitness Group for people with Dev. Disabilities 

[teachpracticelearn-blog]

http://rwjms.rutgers.edu/departments_institutes/boggscenter/projects/documents/SEManual2009.pdf

A Job Coach Manual from 2009 - job carving is no longer encouraged, but this manual has some useful information on systematic instruction and building natural supports in a workplace (like self-management skills and strategies for facilitating good co-worker relationships)

[teachpracticelearn-blog]

After I enjoy a little victory dance for all the great connections made and lessons learned at the ProjectSearch 2014 conference, it's grind time! We're about a month until Take Off with twelve 17 year olds coming for their first day

Our Top 5 (pre-launch)

1) Design and compile our parents packets and set a date for a parents meeting ASAP (we'll need Marketing dept. from my agency, from hospital, and from D.O.E to sign off on our literature before we can distribute). Packets and meeting need to pack a punch, because the SN instructor on board is telling me that as the school year goes on, parents stop paying as much attention and stop looking in backpacks for forms etc. (family involvement)

2) Set a date for following meetings- Kickoff meeting w/ parents, managers and hospital personnel to let everyone involved know what to expect out of the PS year, provide a timeline, and expectations for different roles (student, parent, business liaison, dept.  head, hospital staff). Also, make ourselves available and describe how we can work to support and guide all of our vested members. Show Project Search videos and rally up interest. (get host site engaged, student and parent involvement, and stakeholders agree on roles) 

3) Set date for a meeting at hospital with Managers and invite anybody from hospital who is interested ... identify and build allies within the hospital, "what are your unmet needs, how can we add value to your department". (business engagement)

4) Get friendly with dept. heads, come in and study operations. Come up with a department list - code for types of work and skills involved, i.e. "TYPE patient transport, SKILLS communication, memory and hospital layout".  (business engagement and dept. analysis) 

5) Get hospital's permission to set up a table to give hospital staff an opportunity to ask questions about Project Search and about working with people with disabilities, and to voice concerns (probably about patient safety and how this will affect their department's productivity). Have asked boss if our company's Marketing dept. can send somebody to coach team or even be present at hospital. (business engagement)

[teachpracticelearn-blog]

My first ProjectSearch International Conference ... was ...

AWESOME!! My team and I met with 500+ professionals in the DD field to share resources and we're bringing back tons of momentum and learning as we launch the first ever Project Search site in NYC this fall