Left Brain Right Brain

Life transitions are an issue one hears about a lot with people with autism.  For young people, transitions to school, from elementary to middle school, from middle school to high school.

But, what about the transition from a school setting to an independent living situation?  What supports are available to make that transition: probably the most important transition?

A while back I heard about a program in “Taft” that targeted this exact transition.  I was somewhat surprised.  First, that there was only one program in California mentioned and, second, that this program was in Taft.  Not that I have anything against Taft, it’s just that my own prejudices made me think that such a program would be in a larger metropolitan area.  The city of Taft, California, is about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles, in California’s central valley and is home to about 9,000 people.

The program that caught my eye is called “Transition to Independent Living” (TIL) and is hosted by Taft College, one of California’s Community Colleges.  Community colleges are 2 year schools, publicly supported.  They are great places for everyone from high school kids trying to get a jump on college credit, to older adults retraining for new jobs, and a broad spectrum of other people with various goals.

From their webpage:

The Transition to Independent Living Program (TIL) is a post-secondary experience for developmentally disabled adults emphasizing learning independent living skills.

Students are required to live in either the dorm or in a college run house.  Instruction is 5 days a week, 11am to 5pm, and a community integration program is run on weekends.  The course runs 22 months.

Instruction topics include: Meal Preparation, Money Management, Shopping, Housekeeping, Use of Appliances, Safety,  Communication, Transportation, Personal Care, and Interpersonal Relationships.

One thing I really like about this program is that people graduate.

Students are eligible for graduation when they complete the required course work and independently demonstrate the learned skills.  At that time, the TIL staff assists graduated students in transitioning into an independent living situation in their home community.  The TIL program tracks all of our graduates for a 10 year period to measure outcomes of the students and the program.

As a side-track, there is a lot of discussion in California about graduation requirements and special education students.  It is my feeling that graduation represents true accomplishment.  A “gifted” student who skates through high school and gets a diploma didn’t accomplish as much as the student who struggled for every credit.  But, that’s hard for governments to quantify, so standardized testing (CAHSEE) and other requirements are used to determine if someone graduates.  So, to repeat myself, I was much pleased to see that this program offers graduation. But, back to the main topic.

I found the program intriguing enough that I contacted Jeff Ross, Director of  Student Support Services for Taft College with some questions. I had a short list of questions–but in the end spent a long time talking to Jeff about the program. The more I heard, the more I wanted to hear.

Jeff has been with Taft College sine the 1970’s, working with people with developmental disabilities. He has worked a few positions in the area, and was instrumental in starting the TIL program.

One of the valuable assets that the Transition to Independent Living (TIL) program has is their dorms. Dormitories are not standard for community colleges. Taft College had dorms for their football program, but when sports were de-emphasized at Taft in the early 1990’s, the dorms became available for the disabilities program.

As an aside–for anyone who knows Taft even a little knows that “de-emphasizing sports”, especially football, was likely not an easy transition for the community. Taft is a big football town, and the Taft-Bakersfield rivalry is legendary.

The program is two years. The first year the students are in the dorms (about 28 students) and the second year the students are in community residences owned or leased by the college, for a total of 48 students. In dorm or the community, students each have their own single room. This is important for the students as a whole as they learn to be independent. It is important for the autistic students in that it gives them a sanctuary for private time.

I wanted to know if they thought that the location was an advantage for their program. There are some big advantages. Taft is fairly isolated, and they have good community support for the program. This helps the students be comfortable in their community. Students come to Taft from all over California. The students are truly “going away to college”. This last part is very important. The students are truly buying into the program and committing to the program. That commitment aids in their success.

There is a disadvantage to the location in that the opportunities for vocational training in the community are limited. All students work part time, some in on-campus jobs and others in community vocational programs.

I asked about other similar programs either in California or nationwide. He mentioned a program at UCLA, and that there is a national consortium of college presidents who are looking at building similar programs. But the more I heard about this program, the more I wondered why there aren’t more of them. There are some other programs, but they are not residential and many are not as comprehensive as TIL. For example, many community colleges may have a few classes, but nothing on the scale of TIL.

The TIL program is 30 hours/week of instruction with 8 hours per week of vocational training (paid employment). It is quite intensive, with community integration programs during the weekends and seven day a week staff.

One topic Jeff bought up was the fact that Community Colleges are open to all. If you are over 18 or have a high school diploma, you can attend. Many people with developmental disabilities do attend the various California Community Colleges, but without proper supports, they often are not successful.

How successful is TIL? They track graduates for 10 years. Right now, they have 142 grads of which 95% live independently and 93% are employed. I mentioned to Jeff that his screening process might be picking out those who have a better chance at gaining independence, and he was quick to correct me. Their program serves people with mild to moderate disabilities. I have no doubt that they are making a great impact on their students.

Another measure of success is in the area of the use of “supported living services”. These are services provided by the Regional Centers to help individuals with developmental disabilities stay in independent housing. One example would be banking or checking, where helping someone manage his/her budget and pay bills could make the difference in being able to stay in his/her own home. Typically, adults receiving supported living services use about 88 hours per month. Those who have been through the TIL program who use supported living services use 30 hours per month. One third of the graduates use no supported living services.

The program costs the student’s regional center about $29k/year. But, considering the numbers above, it is quite clearly cost effective on a mere dollar basis. This doesn’t even touch on the human aspects.

There is a very important word just mentioned: graduates. The students who complete the program graduate with certificates of completion similar to other vocational programs. Few (16%) ever go back for college level classes as they have that sense of completion and accomplishment that comes with graduation.

The TIL program students go through graduation ceremonies with the rest of the College. There is a second ceremony a month later, as the TIL program continues after the regular graduation date. For the last three years, the TIL valedictorian has been an autistic student.

That brings up the fact that this is an integrated program, with multiple developmental disabilities represented. I asked Jeff about this and found that in the first three years of the program they didn’t have students with autism. When they first came into the program, there was some concern about whether the program should be modified. They decided against modifying specifically for their autistic students and this turns out to have been a good decision.

As noted above, students have private rooms. This is beneficial to the autistic students in giving them a sanctuary of their own. On the other side of the coin, the mix of students and the intense program gives the autistic students models for personal relationships. The autistic students tend to lead academically, helping the other students. The non-autistic students help the autistic students on interpersonal relationships. So, the mix turns into a potential win-win for the entire group.

There is a transition specialist who helps the students integrate back into their own communities with housing and jobs after graduation.

Unfortunately, there is a 3-4 year wait list for the program, which in itself is a big indication of the need for more programs like this. Students typically start after high school transition programs–or at about age 22. Students often start touring the program at about age 16-17, with people starting to show interest in the middle-school to early high-school age ranges.

This really sounds like an amazing program. A really good idea that is making a difference. It sounds cost-effective and, more importantly, a real benefit to the students. I’ll be interested to hear what other people think of this program, but my reaction right now is: Why aren’t there more programs like this?

The TIL program has a website and a video (which I am going to try to get someone to YouTube so I can embed it here).